CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 1 REWRITTEN
by IceGirl2772
Summary: I was bored. So I came up with this. Basically, it's CSI Season 1 Rewritten with Nick's young daughter thrown into the mix. Like I said, I was bored. READ AND REVIEW PEOPLE! Rated M for...the references included in the show... Let's leave it at that, OK?
1. Information Chapter

**I have a story underway called **_**Can't Love You**_** about Jason McCann and how he eventually falls in love with a girl named Kady who turns out to be Nick's daughter. I will put in a brief summary but since all of it's in Jason's POV, you probably wouldn't understand fully how she came to be. So I put this together for you. I'm possibly gonna rewrite all the seasons with Kady in it as well because I can. :D**

**I own nothing aside from OCs.**

**This will be divided into parts so technically, it's a one-shot. Each part contains a song related to the moment. Some will not be exactly related but you will hopefully get what I mean. For example, realization of feelings will be **_**On My Mind**_** by Cody Simpson.**

**ENJOY!**

**WARNING! WARNING! OOC ALERT! WARNING! WARNING! And actually, it's intended. He was still serious but more fun-loving than serious at first but that will change when he learns of Abigail's pregnancy with Kady. And, uh...I'm having it as he never worked at the Dallas Crime Lab. So if I get some facts wrong...don't yell at me.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><span>First Meeting – <span>_First Time_ – Lifehouse

_We're both looking for something.  
><em>_We've been afraid to find.  
><em>_It's easier to be broken.  
><em>_It's easier to hide._

Is it wrong to feel like a walking zombie? Is it wrong to feel like a nocternal beast? Well, that's what it's like for Nick Stokes. He slowly trudged out of bed and walked towards his bathroom for a nice warm relaxing shower. Then he got dressed, brushed his teeth and made himself a little something for breakfast before grabbing his jacket, keys and heading out the door.

"Just another day at the lab," he grumbled as he started the ignition and drove to the Las Vegas Crime Lab.

Once he arrived, he parked his car, locked it and headed towards the elevator. He pressed the up button and went inside after the automatic doors opened. The elevator was about to close when he heard someone yell,

"HOLD THE LIFT!"

He immediately pressed the button to open the door and when the doors opened once more, he felt his breath hitch in his throat at the sight before him. Before him was a woman around his age; and a beautiful one of that. She looked like an older version of Hayden Panettiere with her blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a red long-sleeve shirt with dark blue jeans with a nice black belt and black boots. Nick's jaw fell to the floor and his eyes were wide open.

_Looking at you holding my breath,  
><em>_For once in my life, I'm scared to death.  
><em>_I'm taking a chance, letting you inside._

Nick still didn't lose his facial expression when the young woman walked in. She went to hit a button next to a floor number on the elevator but she saw that the button was already pressed. And it happened to be pressed by Nick Stokes himself. Between the two of them, it was silent. It wasn't until the doors were shut and the elevator was moving that they started making small talk.

"Crime Lab?" she asked.

"Yep. You?" he questioned.

"Yep. First day as an intern," she responded.

"Assault. I've completed about 25 cases so far. If I complete 100, I get promoted to CSI Level 3," Nick boasted.

"I'll look forward to that day," she remarked.

"I'm Nick, by the way. Nick Stokes," Nick introduced himself before offering his hand for her to shake.

"Abigail. Abigail Nelson," she returned as she shook his hand.

_Feeling alive all over again,  
><em>_As deep as the sky, under my skin.  
><em>_Like being in love, she says, for the first time.  
><em>_Maybe I'm wrong. But I'm feeling  
><em>_Right where I belong with you tonight.  
><em>_Like being in love to feel for the first time._

"So do you know who's going to take you under their wing?" Nick asked.

"Captain Brass said he would assign me when I arrive," Abigail responded.

"Just a warning: Captain Brass can be cool but you don't wanna get on his bad side. He doesn't like it when someone questions his authority. If you do...well, nice knowing you," Nick warned.

"I'll take that advice. Anything else I should know about anyone?" Abigail questioned.

"Catherine Willows is the mother-figure of the bunch. She gives the best advice around. Warrick Brown is the second-coolest guy you will ever meet. He is laid back but serious at the same time," Nick began explaining.

"Second coolest guy? Who's the coolest?" Abigail cut him off.

"Me," Nick laughed, "Then there's Gil Grissom. He's the father-figure of the bunch. But once you get him talking about bugs, you can never get him to shut up." He rolled his eyes a little bit at the last part.

_The world that I see inside you,  
><em>_Waiting to come to life,  
><em>_Waking me up to dreaming,  
><em>_Reality in your eyes._

"So unless I want to be talked to death, don't bring up the topic around Grissom," Abigail summised.

"Keep that in mind and you'll be fine around here," Nick reassured her.

"And what about you, Mr Stokes?" Abigail asked.

"I'm like the fun-loving but serious son in a family. I know when to crack jokes and all that and when to be serious," Nick defined himself, "What addition would you be to the bunch, Miss Nelson?"

"I know how to throw a party, I'm down-to-earth, honest and I'm also an excellent cook," Abigail responded.

"I guess we're at our floor. Come on. I'll take you to Captain Brass," Nick offered as they walked out of the elevator.

"Thanks, Nick," Abigail thanked appreciately.

"No problem, Abby," Nick responded.

"Abby?" Abigail repeated.

"You don't like it?" Nick asked nervously.

"It's just I've always gone by Abigail. No one ever gave me a nickname," she explained.

"Well, Abby Nelson, you have just been nicknamed," Nick proclaimed earning giggles from her.

_Looking at you; holding my breath.  
><em>_For once in my life, I'm scared to death.  
><em>_I'm taking a chance ;etting you inside._

"Come in!" Captain Brass shouted from his desk after he heard a knock on his door.

He looked up as the door opened and he saw Nick and Abigail walk inside. Captain Brass smiled when they walked in.

"Ah, Miss Nelson! I see you found your way OK," Captain Brass remarked, "Thanks for bringing her in, Stokes."

"No problem. I'll catch you guys later," Nick said as he went to leave.

"Not without your new intern," Captain Brass smirked.

"Excuse me?" was all Nick and Abigail could get passed their mouths.

"Well, Stokes, your main point is hair and fibre analysis. Abigail graduated from Harvard with honors and degrees in criminology, biology and forensics," Captain Brass boasted.

"I don't remember asking for an intern. I'm not even high enough in the ranks to have one!" Nick objected.

"First of all, you have the talents and the proficency to take on an intern like Miss Nelson. Second of all, no one ever asks. They just get assigned," Captain Brass retorted.

_I'm feeling alive all over again.  
><em>_As deep as the sky that's under my skin.  
><em>_Like being in love, she says, for the first time.  
><em>_Maybe I'm wrong. I'm feeling right  
><em>_Where I belong with you tonight.  
><em>_Like being in love to feel for the first time…_

"Well, looks like I'm your mentor," Nick remarked to Abigail with a smirk.

"Can't wait to get started, boss," Abigail returned with the same smirk.

"First of all, Abby, I'm gonna need a blood sample from you as part of the standard procedure. Also, I'm going to need you to sign this waevers in the case of you being injured or killed whilst in the field," Nick instructed.

"Yes, sir," Abigail replied.

"Come on. I'll take you to my office. You can dump your things and we can get started," Nick decided as he guided her out of Brass' office.

"So what first, boss?" Abigail asked.

"Well, I had a trick roll yesturday and I have hair and fibre samples that need to be analyzed. That will be a good start," Nick responded, "How long are you going to be an intern?"

"Until I finally earn my doctorate in about a year," Abigail answered.

_We're crashing into the unknown.  
><em>_We're lost in this. But it feels like home._

Now they were in Nick's office analyzing the hair and fibre samples Nick mentioned earlier. Well…Abigail was. Nick was observing her skills. Everytime she did something right, his smile grew even wider. He admired the way she would gaze into the microscope and take down notations and the way she spoke. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard her voice.

"The fibre is polyester. As for the hair, it appears to be artificial. Now the victim had all of his hair. He wasn't balding so he doesn't need artificial hair. This could belong to his attacker. There could be enough DNA on the glue here. We just need something to compare it too. Maybe a mouth swab," Abigail informed him.

"That's first rate work for your first day. You're a fast learner," Nick complimented her.

"Thanks. That's what all the professors at Harvard kept on saying about me throughout the entire course," Abigail confessed.

"Hey, Abby, I know this might sound inappropiate to you since I'm your mentor, but can I have your number?" Nick asked nervously.

"Sure," Abigail agreed.

And so September 5 1992 was the day when Nick Stokes and Abigail Nelson first met.

_I'm feeling alive all over again.  
><em>_As deep as the sky that's under my skin.  
><em>_Like being in love, she says, for the first time.  
><em>_Maybe I'm wrong. I'm feeling right,  
><em>_Where I belong with you tonight.  
><em>_Like being in love to feel for the first time.  
><em>

* * *

><p><span>Becoming Friends – <span>_Breakaway_ – Kelly Clarkson

_Da-da-da-da da, da.  
><em>_Da-da-da-da da, da.  
><em>_Da-da-da-da da-da-da da..._

Now it's been two weeks since that faithful first meeting in the elevator for Nick and Abigail. They've grown closer but they're not exactly friends. Whenever they introduce each other to someone they know they always refer to one another as their collegue, not their friend. But on this day, all of this is about to change.

"Hey, Abby. How's that analysis going?" Nick asked as he walked in carrying a brown paper bag containing their lunch.

_Grew up in a small town;  
><em>_And when the rain would fall down,  
><em>_I'd just stare out my window.  
><em>_Dreaming of what could be.  
><em>_And if I'd end up happy,  
><em>_I would pray. (I would pray.)_

"Results are in the file," Abigail responded from the couch.

Nick immediately turned to her when he heard how her voice sounded. Her voice sounded so small; so sad. She was curled up on the couch holding her phone. Her eyes were red and puffy and her porcelin cheeks are tearstrained. That appearance struck Nick's heart.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Nick demanded worriedly as he sat next to her on the couch.

"My dad had a heart attack. He didn't make it," she whimpered as fresh tears leaked from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Abby," Nick murmured as he pulled her against his chest.

_Trying hard to reach out.  
><em>_But when I tried to speak out,  
><em>_Felt like no one could hear me.  
><em>_Wanted to belong here.  
><em>_But something felt so wrong here.  
><em>_So I prayed I could breakaway..._

"The funeral's this weekend. I'm gonna talk to Brass and see if I can take some personal time," Abigail decided.

"That's the best thing for you right now. Allow yourself to spend some time to grieve. Be there for your family. They need you just like you need them," Nick told her, "Where exactly are you from?"

"Silver City. In New Mexico," Abigail whispered.

"Were you and your dad close?" Nick asked.

"Until I turned 16, he was an abusive alcoholic," Abigail mumbled, causing Nick to tense a little, "He used to beat me came close to raping me until he entered rebab. Then he stopped and started helping me recover from my parents' divorce. He encouraged me to go into forensics."

"Do you have any family here you can stay with? I don't want you to be alone," Nick said.

"All of my family's in Silver City," Abigail responded.

"You can stay with me tonight. I'll accompany you to Silver City for the funeral. So you can have a shoulder to cry on," Nick offered.

"Thanks, Nick," Abigail responded.

"No problem," Nick whispered as he pulled her closer as she began sobbing once more.

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.  
><em>_I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.  
><em>_And I'll make a wish. Take a chance.  
><em>_Make a change, and breakaway...  
><em>_Out of the darkness and into the sun.  
><em>_But I won't forget all the ones that I love.  
><em>_I'll take a risk. Take a chance.  
><em>_Make a change, and breakaway..._

The following week passed by for Nick and Abigail in a blur. Captain Brass granted their requests for personal time. The only reason for granting Nick the personal time, though, is because he didn't want Abigail to be alone as she grieved for her father. Over the past two weeks, he saw the two of them as their relationship unknowingly grew from simple collegues to friends. He began seeing Abigail as a daughter of his own and loved seeing Nick being there for her.

_Da-da-da-da da, da.  
><em>_Da-da-da-da da, da.  
><em>_Da-da-da-da da-da-da da..._

Before they knew it, it was Friday and the day that Nick and Abigail would be flying out to New Mexico for the funeral. Abigail had asked her mother if it was OK if she brought someone with her to the funeral and she had said that it was fine because she would at least have someone. Nick held her hand in a comforting manner as they watched her father's casket being lowered six feet into the ground. He was her shoulder to cry on. He never left her side. Not once.

_Wanna feel the warm breeze.  
><em>_Sleep under a palm tree.  
><em>_Feel the rush of the ocean.  
><em>_Get onboard a fast train.  
><em>_Travel on a jet plane.  
><em>_Far away (I will) and breakaway…_

"Thanks for coming with me, Nick," Abigail thanked as they entered her old home for the wake.

"You need someone you can depend on in these times, Abby. I was more than happy to come," Nick reassured her for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Just a little warning: my mother can tend to be overdramatic when she has too much to drink. So if she's drunk more than five glasses of wine, keep a safe distance," Abigail advised.

"I'll keep that in mind," Nick nodded.

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.  
><em>_I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.  
><em>_And I'll make a wish. Take a chance.  
><em>_Make a change, and breakaway…  
><em>_Out of the darkness and into the sun.  
><em>_But I won't forget all the ones that I love.  
><em>_I'll take a risk. Take a chance.  
><em>_Make a change, and breakaway…_

"Abigail!" Tora Jackson sobbed as she embraced her daughter.

"Hi, mum," Abigail greeted sadly as she returned the hug, "I came as soon as I heard.

"It was such a tragedy. He was planning on surprising you at the lab next week!" Tora announced before finally noticing Nick standing beside her daughter, "And who is this handsome young man?"

"Mum, this is Nick Stokes. He's my mentor at the lab and a very good friend of mine. Nick, this is my mother, Tora," Abigail introduced.

Nick shoke Tora's hand when she offered it. He was stunned. Not once did they call one another friend. He was shocked; but happy nonetheless.

_Building with a hundred floors.  
><em>_Swinging around revolving doors.  
><em>_Maybe I don't know where they'll take me.  
><em>_But gotta keep moving on, moving on.  
><em>_Fly away… Breakaway…_

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Nick apologised.

"It certainly was a surprise to us all," Tora sighed sadly.

That night, Nick and Abigail returned to their hotel room. The following morning, they were flying back to Las Vegas. So they decided to leave the exhausting wake early so they could get a goodnight's rest before the long flight back home. Nick had showered before and now he was in a pair of grey tracksuit pants and a white tank top while he waited for Abigail to get ready for bed. He really needed to talk to her.

"Is there something on your mind?" Abigail asked as she approached him.

"It's what you called me at the funeral. I was a little shocked. We've known each other for two weeks and we've never referred to each other as friends," Nick confessed.

"Sorry. I've always thought of you as a friend. So…," Abigail started.

"I never said I didn't like that. I consider you a friend to. Why do you think I flew out here with you? I want you to know that you have a friend in me," Nick told her.

"Thanks, Nick," Abigail murmured as they shared a hug.

And so September 19 1992 was the day when Nick Stokes and Abigail Nelson started calling each other friend.

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.  
><em>_Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye.  
><em>_I gotta take a risk. Take a chance.  
><em>_Make a change and breakaway…  
><em>_Out of the darkness and into the sun.  
><em>_But I won't forget the place I come from.  
><em>_I gotta take a risk. Take a chance.  
><em>_Make a change. And breakaway… Breakaway!  
><em>_Breakaway…  
><em>

* * *

><p><span>Realization of Feelings – <span>_On My Mind_ – Cody Simpson.

_I'm sleeping through the day.  
><em>_I'm trying not to fade.  
><em>_But every single night,  
><em>_I've just been lying awake.  
><em>_Cause I, (Cause I... Cause I...)  
><em>_I can't get you off my mind._

"Hey, Nick!" Abigail greeted as she bounced into the room.

It's been six months now since the funeral and Nick and Abigail started calling each other friend. Their relationship has grown more than before and they were practically inseperable. People actually started wondering if they were dating. But they denied those claims with a blush. But Nick, for some reason, didn't want to deny that he and Abigail were in a relationship. He didn't know why.

"Hey, Abby!" Nick returned as he embraced her, "What's gotten you so happy?"

"You'll never believe what just happened!" Abigail squealed like a teenager.

"What happened?" Nick asked.

Abigail was about to answer. But then their pagers went off. They looked down and saw a 911 page from Captain Brass.

"I'll tell you later. We have a case," Abigail decided as they ran out of the office.

_The moment that we met,  
><em>_I didn't know yet,  
><em>_That I was looking at a face I'll never forget.  
><em>_Cause I, (Cause I… Cause I…) __(Uh!)  
><em>_I can't get you off my mind.  
><em>_I can't get you off my mind!_

"Oh look, guys. The lovebirds have stopped making out long enough to join us," Warrick Brown teased them.

"Shut up, man," Nick grumbled with a light blush.

"Nick, Abigail, you have a 419 at the Monaco. A girl wins $100 000 at a machine and is found dead an hour later. Catherine, Warrick, Gil, got a 420 at the nightclub down the road from the Monaco. An exotic dancer was found dead in her dressing room," Captain Brass explained.

"Jealousy's such a curse," Abigail sighed as she and Nick walked out.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell me before?" Nick asked as they loaded the stuff into the back.

"You know Officer Jacobs over in Homicide?" Abigail started. When Nick nodded, she continued, "He asked me out on a date for Saturday night."

"Did you say yes?" Nick questioned, secretly hoping she would say no.

"I do need a personal life, Nick," Abigail sighed as she slid into the passenger seat.

Nick just stood there by the boot looking and feeling heartbroken. Sure he and Officer Jacobs got along OK. But they weren't exactly friends. And when he learned that he made a move on his Abby, he felt like he got punched in the gut. Wait, HIS Abby?

_Give me the chance to love you!  
><em>_I'll tell you the only reason why!  
><em>_Cause you are on my mind!  
><em>_I wanna know you feel it!  
><em>_What do you see when you close your eyes?  
><em>_Cause you are on my mind!_

The crime scene was processed in a matter of time. When Nick was around Abigail, he acted like he was happy for her about her date with Officer Jacobs that weekend. But when she wasn't looking or he was alone, he let his heartbreak over her plans shine like neon lights. Contineously, he kept on thinking that it should be HIM taking her out and NOT Officer Jacobs. And yet, he didn't know why he was thinking what he was thinking and feeling the way he was. He definitely needed to talk to Warrick at the lab when they were done.

_I wanna be your best.  
><em>_I wanna be your worst.  
><em>_I wanna be the gravity in your universe.  
><em>_And I, (And I… And I…)  
><em>_I wanna be there to help you fly.  
><em>_(I'll help you fly, girl…)_

"Hey, Warrick. Got a minute?" Nick asked as he walked in.

"Tell Brass I'll have the results in a minute," Warrick requested without diverting his gaze from the microscope.

"Brass didn't send me!" Nick defended, "It's about Abby."

"I'm all ears," Warrick immediately reassured him as he looked up from the microscope. Well, the topic of Nick and Abigail IS his favourite topic.

"Lately, I've been feeling…strange around her. I start acting like an idiot when I'm with her. My heart either races or skips a beat whenever I think about her or I'm near her. When she's with me, all I want to do is press her against the wall and just do things with her. Whenever we're apart, I have to be with her. She's all I think about. She's all I dream about. And I don't know what this is," Nick confessed.

"Dude, you're a fool, but you're a fool in love," Warrick announced.

"What?" Stokes said.

"You're in love with her," Warrick restated.

_Oh, the longer that I wait,  
><em>_The more that I'm afraid,  
><em>_That someone's gonna fool your heart and take you away.  
><em>_Cause I, (Cause I... Cause I...)  
><em>_I finally realized…  
><em>_That I can't get you off my mind!_

"That's impossible," Nick denied.

"All the signs are there, man. Well…that and she's the only girl that can make you act like a lovesick fool," Warrick teased his friend.

"So what should I do about it?" Nick asked.

"Dude, man up! Talk to her! Tell her how you feel! She might feel the same way!" Warrick exclaimed.

"I can't. Officer Jacobs from Homicide asked her out. They have a date Saturday night," Nick sighed.

"You're kidding! She's going out with that sleezebag!" Warrick exclaimed in disbelief.

"He's not that bad," Nick shrugged.

"Trust me, Nick. That sonofabitch isn't the right guy for her! You are!" Warrick objected.

_Give me the chance to love you!  
>I'll tell you the only reason why!<br>__Cause you are on my mind!  
><em>_I wanna know you feel it!  
><em>_What do you see when you close your eyes?  
><em>_Cause you are on my mind!_

"It's not like I can do anything about it!" Nick retorted.

"You can drop hints about your feelings for her! Maybe if you'll get lucky, something will happen between them and you'll have a shot with her!" Warrick shouted.

"I may love her but I want her to be happy as well! And if Officer Jacobs makes her happy, then I'm happy for her. She deserves happiness after what she's been though," Nick confessed.

"You're giving up," Warrick accused.

"It's not like it's a battle that I can win, dude," Nick groaned.

"You won't win if you don't fight, man! If you really love her more than life itself, you will fight for her until her heart stops beating!" Warrick yelled.

_Girl, I can't live without you.  
><em>_I can't think straight without you now.  
><em>_So tell me what should I do!  
><em>_If I can't get you off my mind!_

"I swear on my grave and the grave of my future descendants that I will fight for Abigail Nelson until our hearts stop beating," Nick growled.

"Then start fighting for her, man!" Warrick encouraged his friend's retreating form.

"Believe me! I will!" Nick shouted back.

And so March 19 1993 was the day Nick Stokes realized that he was in love with Abigail Nelson.

_Give me the chance to love you!  
><em>_I'll tell you the only reason why!  
><em>_Cause you are on my mind!  
><em>_I gotta know you feel it! (Oh, oh!)  
><em>_What do you see when you close your eyes? (Yeah…)  
><em>_Cause you are on my mind!_

_You're on my mind…  
><em>_You're on my mind all day and night, oh.  
><em>_Cause you are on my mind!  
><em>

* * *

><p><span>Confessing Love – <span>_Can't Help Falling In Love_ – A*Teens

_Oooh, ooh-ooh…  
><em>_Ooooh, ooh-oooh…  
><em>_Do, do, do, do-do-do…  
><em>_I just can't help falling in love with you…_

"Mallory James, you're under arrest for the murder of Peyton Montoya. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford one, one will be appointed to you," Nick read the rights.

It's been one month now since Nick confessed to Warrick that he was in love with Abigail. So far, he hasn't had the chance to confess his feelings to her. She went on that date with Officer Jacobs but it ended in a disaster when his other woman came along. Nick decided to wait until she was over Jacobs to confess his undying love for her. But then this case came up and…well, let me put it this way: they've been putting in a lot of overtime. After two weeks of slaving over evidence and leads, they have finally found the killer. But she's not gonna go with them easily.

"Don't come near me! I'll shoot both of you! I swear!" Mallory threatened as she pointed her gun at them.

"Mallory, please don't fight us! We can help you!" Abigail pleaded.

"I took the life of my lover! How am I supposed to forgive myself?" Mallory screamed.

"By accepting the concequences and then starting anew," Nick responded.

"Why? I'm gonna be dead either way!" Mallory sobbed.

"You won't be! We can protect you! Just tell us who paid you to kill Peyton and we will make sure they won't come near you anymore," Abigail swore.

"There are high security cells in prison," Nick added.

_Wise men say only fools rush in.  
><em>_But I can't help falling in love with you._

Mallory pointed her gun at Nick's chest whilst letting out a shrill scream of pure agony and loss. Nick was almost crying as he saw his life flash before his eyes just like the cliché says. He couldn't bear to watch. So he closed his eyes. Mallory prepared to pull the trigger and end Nick's life cold-heartedly. But just moments before the bullet could be released; Abigail drew her gun and stood inbetween Nick and Mallory. Two shots were fired. One shot pierced Mallory's head. Her body crumbled like a sack of spuds. Her blood formed a pool around her.

"Nice shot, Abby!" Nick cheered, only to get no response from her, "Abby?" Nick started to grow even more worried. Then he saw Abigail was about to collapse, "ABIGAIL!"

Abigail's knees buckled underneath her. In two long strides, Nick was next to her. He caught her but then he fell to his knees with her in his arms. Her colour was draining fast and her breathing was shallow and wheezy. He was about to ask her what was wrong but then he felt a warm substance on his arm. He removed his arm from her stomach and saw blood soaking her shirt. That caused his eyes to widen, a shocked gasp to escape his lips and fear to pulse through him. Abigail had been shot. And she didn't have a bulletproof vest underneath her shirt like he did.

_Shall I say? Would it be a sin, (Be a sin?)  
><em>_If I can't help falling in love with you?_

"We heard gunshots!" Captain Brass shouted as he, Gil Grissom and Warrick Brown ran inside with their guns drawn. None of them were prepared for the sight before them.

"I need an ambulance! Abby's been shot!" Nick shouted as he cradled Abigail against his chest and applied pressure to the wound.

"I'll call for one now," Captain Brass announced as he ran outside.

"I'll see if anyone else is inside," Warrick decided as he sprinted up the staircase.

"What happened, Nick?" Gil demanded as he fell to his knees near them.

"Mallory was resisting arrest. She pointed her gun at me ready to shoot. But then Abby stepped in front of her and she managed to shoot Mallory in the head before taking the shot for me," Nick explained.

"An ambulance is on the way!" Captain Brass announced as he knelt next to Gil near Nick and Abigail.

"Nick," Abigail wheezed fearfully.

"I'm here, Abby. Help's coming. You're gonna be fine. Just hold on! Please!" Nick pleaded with sobs choking him as he applied more pressure to her wound.

"I can't! AAH!" Abigail shouted as she felt more pain course through her.

"You have to, Abby! Please! I love you! I can't live without you!" Nick confessed.

Captain Brass and Gil looked up at Nick who was openly crying. They felt their hearts go out to him when those words went past his lips. Here he was confessing his love to the only woman who could make him happy and act like a fool as he cradled her in his arms trying to stop her from dying because of a gunshot wound. Their relationship could possibly end before it had even begun. And the thought of that alone was simply heartbreaking; if the sight in front of them wasn't.

_Like a river flows to the sea; so it goes. (Oooooh... Oooooh...)  
><em>_Some things are meant to be…  
><em>_Some things are meant to be!_

"Nick, I-AAH!" Abigail's response was cut off by her scream in pain before she started convulsing violently.

"She's going into cardiac arrest. She's losing too much blood," Gil announced.

"NO!" Nick screamed as he applied even more pressure to her wound and held her tighter.

"WHERE'S THAT FUCKING AMBULANCE?" Captain Brass shouted.

"It's pulling up now, sir!" the officer inside yelled back.

"Tell them to hurry up! Abby's going into cardiac arrest!" Gil exclaimed.

"Did you just say that Abby's going into cardiac arrest?" Warrick asked as he raced down the stairs, fell on his knees next to Nick and helped apply pressure, "Come on, Abbstar!"

"Hold on, Abby. Please," Nick sobbed.

Abigail rested her head against Nick's chest with her eyes closed and tears of pain escaping. Nick felt her body become limp in his tight embrace. That scared the shit out of him. He was losing her. Fast. He held her closer and cried even harder against her than he was when she got shot. At that moment, the paramedics rushed in. Then everything started rushing by in a blur.

_Take my hand. Take my whole life too… (Life too…)  
><em>_But I can't help falling in love with you…_

Nick has now changed out of his bloodstained CSI uniform and was wearing all black: black jeans, black t-shirt and black leather shoes. He was now sitting in one of those uncomfortable plastic chairs in the waiting room at the hospital with his head in his hands crying fresh tears. He felt like he was losing a part of him with Abigail in the operating room fighting for her life. Well, he did say that he loved her and that he couldn't live without her. It's a normal reaction!

Catherine Willows was sitting next to him with a comforting hand on his shoulder. She tried to remain strong. But inside, she was breaking down. Like Nick, she had tears spilling from her eyes. She loved Abigail as if she was her own daughter. She was heartbroken when she learned that she was shot during the arrest trying to save Nick. She felt like she was losing her daughter in there. And she is 5 months pregnant with Lindsay at this current point of time.

Gil was leaning against the wall near Catherine and Nick. His head was bent low and resting on his hand. He had been crying as well. He was close to Abigail as well. He loved her like a daughter. He even threatened the doctor to give her the best treatment possible or he would have the DA on his ass. And if that's not fatherly love, I don't know what is.

Warrick was pacing the aisleway in front of Nick and Catherine muttering silent prayers and saints. He was also crying. He had even broken down hysterically a few times. He loved her like a sister. And he couldn't bear the thought of losing his baby sister to some bullet. He wouldn't be able to recover from something like that. And he knew Nick wouldn't be able to either.

Brass was leaning against the wall near the big white doors Abigail was wheeled through when she was brought in. He was worried like the others were. But it wasn't just Abigail he was worried about. He was worried about everyone else as well and how they would cope if the unevitable happened and Abigail lost the battle of life and death. Gil would dive into his work. Warrick wouldn't joke around as much as he did. Catherine would mourn her like her daughter. As for Nick…he couldn't imagine what he would do. Depression and suicide would be in there.

They were pulled out of their thoughts when the doctor walked through the doors.

"Abigail Nelson!" she called out.

"Is she OK?" Captain Brass asked worriedly.

_Wise men say only fools rush in…  
><em>_But I, I can't! I can't help falling in love with you!_

"I'm Doctor Ross. I'm in charge of Miss Nelson's case. We have good news and bad news. The good new is that we have managed to remove the bullet. She is responding well to the surgery and medicine and should be able to go home after a few days of observation. The bad news is that the anthesia hasn't worn off yet so she's going to be out for a couple of hours at most. Also, she's lost too much blood from the wound and the surgery so she will need a blood transfusion. Do you know what blood type Miss Nelson is?" Dr Ross asked.

"AB-," Gil answered.

"Abby and I have the same blood type. I'll donate some of my blood," Nick volunteered.

"You're giving her your blood?" Catherine gasped.

"She saved my life back there. There's no reason why I can't save hers," Nick retorted.

"If you'll just come this way, Mr Stokes," Dr Ross instructed as she went to lead Nick away from the others.

"Wait. Can the others see her?" Nick asked.

"Room 233," was Dr Ross' response.

"You guys go see Abby. I don't want her to be alone. I'll meet you guys there," Nick promised before walking away with Dr Nelson.

_Like the river flows to the sea; so it goes. (Ooooooh... Oooooooh...)  
><em>_Some things are meant to be…  
><em>_Some things are meant to be!_

A few hours have passed now and Nick was sitting by Abigail's bedside with his head on her mattress and holding her hand. At Catherine's insistance, he was trying to catch some sleep. Abigail still hadn't woken up yet so none of the CSIs have left the hospital...except Captain Brass who offered to drive Abigail's hysterical mother to her hotel. Gil was getting some fresh air, Warrick was on a food and drink run in the cafeteria and Catherine was contineously making bee lines between the room and the bathroom as per the downside of her pregancy of having to pee all the time. Well...your bladder does become smaller when pregnant so...

"Anything yet?" Warrick asked as he walked in and handed Nick a paper bag and coffee.

"Doctor said she's improving. The anthesia is starting to wear off. She should wake up soon," Nick responded as he sipped his coffee and took a bite of his bagel, "Where are the others?"

"Brass is on his way back. Catherine's getting something to drink and Gil is still outside," Warrick explained, "The only person who hasn't left her bedside is you, Nick."

"I wanna be here when she wakes up," Nick grumbled.

"Man, the only time you weren't in this godforsaken hospital was when you made a pitstop at the lab to get changed out of your bloody clothes! You need to get out of here; stretch your legs. Get some fresh air! You'll start wasting away by her bedside if you don't!" Warrick retorted, "Do you think Abby would want that?"

Suddenly, Nick felt Abigail's hand twitch inside his. They looked up and saw her head moving from side to side and her eyes fluttering. She was muttering something they couldn't understand. Nick couldn't have cared less about what she was muttering. She was waking up. That was more than enough for him.

"She's waking up!" Nick cheered in joy.

"I'll go get the others," Warrick decided before bolting out of the room.

_Take my hand. Take my whole life too.  
><em>_But I can't help falling in love with you!_

"Nick," Abigail murmured as she finally opened her eyes fully.

"I'm here, Abby," Nick reassured her as he held her hand.

"What happened?" Abigail asked as she went to sit up before wincing in pain.

"Take it easy," Nick instructed gently as he placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her on the bed, "We were at Mallory's townhouse to take her into custody for Peyton's murder. But she wouldn't comply. She was about to shoot me but you stood inbetween the two of us. Both of you ended up getting shot."

"What about Mallory?" Abigail questioned.

"She's dead. You shot her in the head. Commander Brass has classified that as self-defence," Nick reassured her.

"What happened to your arm?" Abigail demanded as she referred to the cotton ball stuck to his arm.

"You've lost a lot of blood, Abby. You even went into cardiac arrest at the scene. And your blood type happened to be the rarest blood type in the world. So I volunteered myself to give blood to you since you and I share the same blood type," Nick explained.

"You did not!" Abigail gasped.

"We need to talk," Nick blurted.

"Aren't we already talking?" Abigail joked.

"Did you hear what I said to you? Before you went into cardiac arrest at the scene?" Nick asked.

"Nick, I was in so much pain. The only reason I remember what happened is because you told me," Abigail answered.

"Well, I told you something. You were about to respond but, you nearly died in my arms. I told you that...that I love you and I can't live without you. When I lost you out there, I thought I was losing myself with you. I breathe for you now. My heart beats for you. Whatever I do, I do for you out of love," Nick confessed to her.

Abigail laid there shocked for a moment. He was in love with her and can't live without her. And that he's been feeling this way about her for quite a while. And the best thing was...

"I love you too," Abigail whispered.

_Take my hand! (Take my hand!)  
><em>_Take my whole life too! (Life too!)  
><em>_For I can't help falling in love with you!  
><em>_For I can't help falling in love..._

Nick just smiled happily with tears of joy spilling from his eyes. Abigail was crying as well. Smiling, he sat next to her on the bed and they kissed happily knowing that their feelings were out in the open. Once everyone walked in on them playing tonsil tennis, everyone started cheering like mad. **(AN: I am so sorry about the tonsil tennis remark! I just had to add that in!)** And all they could say about the new pairing was...ABOUT DAMN TIME! Then started talking and giggling like a bunch of teenagers into the Las Vegas night.

_Falling in love with you!_

So April 20 1993 was the day Nick Stokes was close to losing Abigail Nelson for the first time. It was also the day that they finally let their undying devotion for each other out into the open, much to the pleasure of their family and friends.

_Like a river flows!  
>That's the way it goes!<br>__I just can't help falling in love with you!  
><em>_(Falling in love with you!)  
><em>_  
><em>_Like a river flows! (YEAH! YEAH!)  
><em>_That's the way it goes! (Cause I can't!)  
><em>_Falling in love with you!_

_Like a river flows!  
><em>_(I just can't help myself!)  
><em>_That's the way it goes!  
><em>_I can't help falling in love with you!_

_(I can't help falling in love with you!)  
><em>_(I can't help falling in love with you!)_

_Falling in love with you!  
><em>

* * *

><p><span>Officially BoyfriendGirlfriend – _Faithfully_ – Glee Cast

_Highway run into the midnight sun.  
><em>_Wheels go round and run. You're on my mind._

"Hey, beautiful," Nick greeted as he kissed her cheek.

"Hey, handsome," Abigail returned.

"Did you get the DNA result back?" Nick asked.

"Mmm-hmm. It's a match. Jackson Taylor was at the scene at the time of the murder," Abigail announced.

"OK. We've proven that he was there. We just need to prove if he was our mystery witness or the killer," Nick sighed.

"We seriously need to apply for overtime," Abigail remarked.

"You can say that again," Nick agreed as he ran a hand over his face.

Now it has been a month now since Abigail got shot during an arrest and they confessed their feelings. They started acting like a couple even though they are not officially a couple yet. They still hadn't called each other boyfriend/girlfriend and they didn't talk about being boyfriend/girlfriend. They think of each other that way. Sure. But they haven't said it out loud.

_Restless hearts sleep alone tonight...  
><em>_Sending all my love along the wire..._

"Where were you anyways?" Abigail asked.

"Warrick needed to talk to me about something," Nick lied.

"OK. We're still having lunch together right?" Abigail questioned.

"Of course," Nick responded with a smile before his pager began beeping.

"You're needed," Abigail laughed.

"Grissom wants to see me," Nick explained before kissing her quickly and running out, "See you at lunch!"

"See you then!" Abigail called back before examining the fibres in the microscope once more.

_They say that the road ain't no place to start a family!  
><em>_Right down the line, it's been you and me!  
><em>_And loving a music man ain't always what it's supposed to be!  
><em>_Oh boy, you stand by me!  
><em>_I'm forever yours... Faithfully..._

"You wanted to see me?" Nick asked as he walked into the office.

"Did Abby get the test results back?" Gil questioned.

"DNA's a match. Jackson Taylor was at the scene at the time of the murder. We just have to prove if he was a witness or the killer," Nick reported.

"That's good. I'll pass it on to Brass. We're close to closing this case," Gil remarked, "And Nick?"

"Yes?" Nick responded.

"I know you're planning on asking her at lunch," Gil announced.

"Are you saying it's inappropiate to ask the woman I love to officially be my girlfriend at the workplace?" Nick demanded nervously.

"No, no. Not at all. Actually, I think it's romantic. And that's coming from me," Gil laughed, "I was going to suggest you give her flowers when you ask her. Make it even more romantic."

"What flowers should I get for her?" Nick asked.

"Amaryllis, White Carnations, Chrysanthemum, Gladiolus, Heather Lavender, Yellow Iris; actually, I think I'll come with you to the flower shop and help you pick out the flowers," Gil decided as he placed a hand on Nick's shoulder and guided him out of the lab.

_Circus life under the big top world!  
><em>_We don't need the clowns to make us smile!_

"Hey, Abby," a six-month pregnant Catherine greeted as she walked inside Nick's office.

"Hey, Cathy," Abigail returned as she looked up from her microscope, "What's up?"

"The baby's kicking," Catherine announced with a proud smile.

"Ooh. I wanna feel!" Abigail squealed excitedly as she placed her hands on Catherine's swollen stomach, "Hey. Have you seen Nick? We have lunch in an hour."

"Oh! I saw him leave with Gil 5 minutes ago. Said something about reanalyzing the crime scene," Catherine lied.

"But we've analyzed the crime scene almost five times already!" Abigail stated before she saw through her lie, "Something's going on isn't it?"

"That's something for me to know and for you to find out," Catherine smirked as she walked away.

"Aw come on, Cathy! Can't you drop a hint?" Abigail pleaded.

"Nope! Sorry!" Catherine called back to her.

_Oh! Through space and time! (Through space and time...) Always another show!  
><em>_Wondering where I am! Lost without you..._

"Hey. Thanks for helping me out, man," Nick thanked as he and Gil walked back into the lab holding a bouquet of a variety of flowers in many different colours.

"No problem. Besides, I was eagerly awaiting this moment since you two first met," Gil remarked.

"Whoa! Those flowers are amazing! Did you pick these out, Grissom? Nicky here wouldn't be able to be romantic if he tried!" Warrick cackled as he walked into the office.

"Hey! I can be romantic! I didn't pick these flowers on my own!" Nick defended.

"Yeah right, man! Name one romantic present you've given Abby!" Warrick challenged.

"How's this?" Nick smirked as he took a long velvet box out of his pocket.

It was a heart shaped locket; a 9 carot gold heart shaped locket. The words 'I Love You' were engraved elegently in perfect calligraphy on one side of the locket. On the other side, some gold formed the shape of a stem and leaves while there was some silver shaped in the formation of a rose. The locket was a breathtaking sight.

"I take it back," Warrick immediately said as he patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Nick, this is a beautiful locket. That must have cost a fortune!" Gil remarked.

"It will be worth every cent to be able to see Abby smile," Nick sighed dreamily.

"Ooh. Showtime, lover boy!" Warrick announced.

"I've already set up the lights and the romantic mood. So now it's up to Warrick and Catherine to bring her to the cafeteria," Gil reassured him.

"Alright. Operation Romantic is now in motion!" Warrick cheered excitedly before adding, "We need a better name for this."

Nick and Gil couldn't help but laugh at him.

_And being apart ain't easy on this love affair!  
><em>_Two strangers learn how to fall in love again!  
><em>_And I get the joy of rediscovering you!  
><em>_Oh girl, you stand by me!  
><em>_I'm forever yours... Faithfully..._

"What's up, guys?" Abigail asked as she saw Catherine and Warrick walk through the door.

"Wanna grab some lunch with us?" Warrick offered with a smile.

"But I'm having lunch with Nick," Abigail reminded them.

"He told us he'll meet you there when he's done," Catherine told her.

"Um...OK," Abigail agreed hestiently.

Catherine and Abigail walked away. Warrick stayed behind to send a page to Nick letting him know they were on their way. Once the page went through, he went to catch up with the girls. Everyone had gathered round the centre table with a pathway towards it down the middle. Once they had arrived, they started clapping and cheering.

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!  
><em>_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Faithfully!_

"What's going on?" Abigail asked nervously.

The cafeteria was decorated with streamers, fairy lights and love heart confetti. Even some rose petals were sprinkled here and there. Catherine went to stand with Gil and Captain Brass while Warrick guided Abigail to the table and helped her onto the table top. Once she was safe on the stable surface, he went to join his friends for the happy moment.

"This is going to be romantic," Catherine gushed.

"Everything's romantic to you," Warrick scoffed.

"I'm 6 months pregnant, Warrick. My hormones are crazy. Deal with it before I make you deal with it," Catherine retorted a little too sweetly.

That caused Warrick to shut up.

"Where's Nick?" Abigail questioned as she looked around.

"Right here, beautiful," a voice said.

_Oh, oh, oh, oh! Faithfully! Oh, oh! I'm still yours!_

Abigail faced the entrance and saw Nick standing there in the doorway with a smile on his face. She smiled while fiddling with the skirt of her white dress nervously. When he was standing near the table, she noticed that he had cleaned himself up a bit. His hair was combed back out of his face. He was wearing a nice pair of jeans, a nice button-up shirt and pretty nice shoes. He also had aftershave on! He climbed onto the table and stood in front of her.

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! I'm still yours!_

"Abigail Mikaela Nelson, one month ago today was the day that I almost lost you and told you that I love you. That was also the day you told me you felt the same. Over the time that has passed, we have grown even closer and our relationship has become stronger than before. But I want to make this official," Nick started as he took out the long velvet case and handed it to her.

Confused, Abigail opened the case and the gold heart-shaped locket inside beamed at her underneath the flurecent lights of the cafeteria above them. She gasped and went to look at Nick. But she had to gaze down because he had knelt on one knee and taken her hand.

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! OH! I'm still yours!_

"Abby, I love you so much. Will you be my girlfriend?" Nick asked.

"Yes!" Abigail sobbed.

Nick immediately pulled her to him and twirled her around while everyone cheered. When he set her down, he placed the locket on her neck, gave her the bouquet and kissed her joyfully in front of the still cheering crowd containing their collegues surrounding them. This was the perfect moment.

And so May 20 1995 was the day Nick Stokes and Abigail Nelson became boyfriend/girlfriend.

_Faithfully...  
><em>

* * *

><p><span>Proposal – <span>_Love Story_– Taylor Swift

_We were both young when I first saw you.  
><em>_I close my eyes and the flashback starts.  
><em>_I'm standing there on a balcony in summer air..._

"Hey, baby, you ready?" Nick asked as he did up his bow tie.

"Nearly!" he heard Abigail's muffled voice reply back.

It's been six months now since Nick and Abigail has officially become boyfriend/girlfriend. Everything couldn't be more perfect for these two than it is at this current moment in time. They rarely fought. And when they did, it was over something serious such as actions taken in the field. They weren't afraid to show their love to the world. And two months ago, they even bought a place together! **(AN: The address is the same as it currently is in the series.)** Everyone was amazed at how fast they were moving in the relationship. They were even expecting Nick to pop the question soon! Because, hello! Free bar! Not! Well...they were looking forward to the free bar but they were also looking forward to seeing them joined together in matrimony.

Anyways, now they were getting ready for the annual gala to rub elbows with donars who make their work possible. And it was something everyone was looking forward to...NOT! Even Captain Brass was looking for an excuse to get out of the gala. Unfortunately, it was either attend and kiss their butts or kiss their fundings and research bye-bye. And nobody wants that; especially Grissom, Abigail and Nick.

"Well, come on! We have to be at the Four Seasons in an hour!" Nick reminded her as he examined himself in the mirror.

"I'm coming!" Abigail shouted.

At that moment, she walked out of the bathroom and as soon as she did, Nick's jaw dropped the same way it did that first day he saw her in that elevator.

She looked absolutely stunning! She was wearing a red strapless dress that suited her figure perfectly. Diamontes covered the dress in a pattern underneath her bust and along the not-to-puffy skirt. On her feet were red high heels. Her long hair was done up in a fancy ponytail with bits of her fringe framing her elegent face. Around her neck was the locket Nick had given her. Her earrings were gold hearts dangling from a small chain. On her wrist was her tennis bracelet. Her makeup was light; only a little foundation, a bit of blush, pink eyeshadow and light lip gloss.

"Close your mouth. You'll let flies in," Abigail teased.

"You look wonderful," Nick complimented.

_See the lights. See the party; the ballgowns.  
><em>_See you make your way through the crowd and say hello.  
><em>_Little did I know..._

"Hi, guys," Nick and Abigail greeted their friends as they arrived.

"You guys look amazing!" Catherine gushed as she embraced them both in her navy blue halterneck dress.

"Hey, Nick. Wanna swap dates? You take Ziva and I take Abby?" Warrick asked jokingly.

"I'm not swapping my girl for anyone!" Nick decided.

"Nice one, Nick! I'm telling ya. If you wanted to swap Abby for Ziva, you'd be dead," Gil remarked with a laugh.

"Yes he would," Abigail agreed.

"Ouch. That hurt, baby," Nick joked as he placed his hand over his heart.

"Way to wound a guy's pride," Captain Brass commented.

"Hey, honey. You wanna dance before we get bored to death by donars?" Nick offered.

"Yes," Abigail immediately agreed.

Smiling, Nick took Abigail's hand and led her out to the dancefloor crowded by many other attendees. Abigail placed her free hand on Nick's shoulder while Nick placed his free hand on her waist. Together, they swayed to the soft beat of the music. Soon, their collegues joined them. Occasionally, they would steal kisses from one another.

_That you were Romeo. You were throwing pebbles.  
><em>_And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet."  
><em>_And I was crying on the staircase.  
><em>_Begging you, "Please don't go!"  
><em>_And I said,_

"Hey, Nick. You gonna ask her tonight?" Warrick questioned.

Nick and Abigail danced for about five songs on the dancefloor before they had to get tortured by donars. Thankfully, Nick, Warrick, Captain Brass and Gil have managed to escape them. As for Abigail and Catherine...well, they were still getting tortured by dozens of donars. All the boys felt so sorry for them.

"I couldn't ask for a more perfect moment than now," Nick responded with a smile.

"Do you have the ring?" Gil questioned.

"Yep. Just gotta wait for the right time," Nick nodded.

"Take her out to the poolside. There's a romantic atmosphere there; especially when there are fairy lights practically everywhere and a few handfuls of rose petals are sprinkled here and there," Captain Brass explaineded, earning weird looks from his friends, "A friend of mine works here! Oh! I talked to him about your plan, Nick. You have the all clear."

"Thanks," Nick thanked appreciatevely, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to save my future wife from donars."

"_Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.  
><em>_I'll be waiting. All that's left to do is run.  
><em>_You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess.  
><em>_It's a love story. Baby, just say yes..."_

"Bored yet?" Catherine asked Abigail as they relaxed by the refreshments table.

"How do you survive these things?" Abigail moaned.

"It takes practice. Attend a few more of these functions and dealing with creepy wealthy senior citizens will become second nature," Catherine reassured her.

"I'm amazed that Nick hasn't ripped his hair out yet or dragged me to the coat room for a quickie," Abigail giggled.

"How are things with you and Nick now that you're living together?" Catherine questioned.

"You should see him on bed. Oh my god," Abigail gushed.

"Where's Abby?" Nick demanded.

"Over there with Catherine," Warrick responded as he pointed to where their friends were talking and laughing, "You might wanna intervine because I heard from Grissom and Brass that they're talking about your sex life since you two have bought that house together."

Nick shoved his drink into his mate's hand and took off to the refreshment table like Speedy Gonzales with Warrick remaining where he is laughing his ass off with Gil and Brass at the sight. **(AN: *falls to the ground laughing hysterically* I am so very sorry, everyone! I just had to add that in! *clears throat* BACK TO THE STORY, PEOPLE! *starts laughing hysterically again*)**

_So I sneak out to the garden to see you.  
><em>_We keep quiet cause we're dead if they knew.  
><em>_So close your eyes. Escape this town for a little while... Oh, oh!_

"Donar at 5 o'clock," Catherine warned with a groan.

"Allow me to rescue my damsel in distress," Nick smirked as he pulled Abigail towards the dancefloor.

"Gee, guys. I love you too!" Catherine called after them sarcastically, "Hi, Fred."

"Thanks for that," Abigail sighed in relief.

"Hey. You're my girlfriend, baby. I'll always have your back," Nick reassured her with a kiss, "Come on. Let's dance."

_Cause you were Romeo. I was the scarlett letter.  
><em>_And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet!"  
><em>_But you were everything to me!  
><em>_I was begging you, "Please don't go!"  
><em>_And I said,_

"Gee, thanks, Nick, for leaving me to be tortured by Fred Cavingston for five hours," Catherine thanked sarcastically when she joined the gang.

"I wasn't gonna let Abby suffer! What kind of boyfriend would I be if I did?" Nick defended.

"That was low," Catherine commented.

"Believe me. He can go lower," Abigail winked.

"Oooh. Sounds naughty," Warrick howled.

"Warrick, get your mind out of the gutter," Abigail told him.

"Yes, ma'am," was Warrick's immediate response, causing the gang to laugh out loud.

"Hey, wanna go dancing alone?" Nick asked Abigail.

"OK," Abigail nodded.

With that being said, Nick took her hand and let her out of the ballroom towards the pool which shone underneath the fairy lights and the moonlight. There were also rose petals scattered.

"_Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.  
><em>_I'll be waiting. All that's left to do is run.  
><em>_You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess.  
><em>_It's a love story. Baby, just say yes."_

"But we have no music. Out here we can barely hear the music inside," Abigail reminded him.

"Are you sure?" Nick smirked before he pointed to an orchestra which began playing a song.

"Our song!" Abigail gasped.

"Will you dance with me?" Nick asked offering his hand.

"Yes," Abigail nodded eagerly before placing her hand in his.

Together, they started waltzing around the pool carefully so they wouldn't slip and fell in.

"_Romeo, save me. They're tryin' to tell me how to feel.  
><em>_This love is difficult. But it's real!  
><em>_Don't be afraid. We'll make it out of this mess.  
><em>_It's a love story. Baby, just say yes."  
><em>_Oh, oh-oh..._

"Hey, Abby. Go along that pathway there. I'll be with you in a second," Nick promised her.

With a nod, Abigail followed the path. She took in the sight of the lucious trees and plant life covered in fairy lights. Underneath her feet, the path was covered by dozens of rose petals. Yep. There's definitely a romantic atmosphere in the air. But why the romance, you may ask. Well, the reason's pretty obvious. Don't ya think? Once she reached the end of the path she saw a gazebo with the same fairy lights and rose petals. At the centre was a glass table with a note. She picked it up and read it written in perfect calligraphy: 'Be my wife.' **(AN: Boys, take notes here. Welcome to Romance 101, ladies and gentlemen. Please read on for your lesson.)**

"I see you got my note," someone behind her remarked.

_I got tired of waiting. Wondering if you'll ever be coming around.  
><em>_My faith in you was fading. When I met you on the outskirts of town,  
><em>_And I said,_

Abigail turned around and saw Nick standing there with his hands behind his back and a smile plastered on his face. As she looked at him, around the gazebo and back at him, she began to realize who the mastermind behind this romantic gesture is. And she knew who to thank later and HOW to thank him later and that thought alone just sounded wrong.

"You did all this?" Abigail gasped.

"I wanted this moment to be perfect for you. After all, aren't moments like these meant to be romantic?" Nick laughed before stepping forward and kneeling in front of Abigail.

"_Romeo, save me. I've been feeling so alone.  
><em>_I keep waiting for you but you never come."  
><em>_Is this in my head? I don't know what to think.  
><em>_He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said,_

"Abby, you and I have been dating for six months now. I realize that might not be long enough. But I feel like I've known you forever. I love everything about you: your smile, your laugh, your looks, your personality; the list goes on. That very first day when you asked me to hold the elevator, I knew that I want to hold elevators for you everyday for the rest of our lives. You're the one for me," Nick confessed as he took out a navy blue velvet box and opened it to reveal a ring.

"Nick!" Abigail breathed.

The engagement ring was absolutely beautiful. About three-quarters of the ring was pure gold. The remaining quarter of the ring was silver. There were two love hearts – one silver and one gold – situated next to each other. Each had a diamond inside. Three small diamonds followed the hearts on each side.

"Abigail Mikaela Nelson, will you be my wife?" Nick asked as he slid the ring on her finger.

"_Marry me, Juliet! You'll never have to be alone!  
><em>_I love you and that's all I really know!  
><em>_I talked to your dad! Go pick out a white dress!  
><em>_It's a love story! Baby, just say...yes!"_

"Yes," Abigail sobbed happily.

Smiling, Nick stood up and kissed her passionately to seal their engagement. Once he pulled away, he held her in his arms and twirled her around the gazebo as the cliche goes. Captain Brass, Gil, Catherine and Warrick happened to walk in on them as he popped the question and started clapping and cheering like mad as soon as Abigail said yes.

And so November 20 1994 was the day Nick Stokes and Abigail Nelson were engaged to be married. **(AN: And that, ladies and gentlemen, marks the end of your lesson in Romance 101.)**

_Oh, oh-oh... Oh, oh, oh, oh...  
><em>_Cause we were both young when I first saw you...  
><em>

* * *

><p><span>The Wedding – <span>_Written in the Stars_ – Westlife

_Stay with me.  
><em>_Don't fall asleep too soon.  
><em>_The angels can wait for a moment..._

"Abby, are you ready?" Catherine asked her best friend as she knocked on the door.

It's been six months now since Nick proposed to Abby. And now, the big day was finally here. They decided to elope at the Bellagia Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful spring day; the perfect day for a wedding.

Catherine was Abigail's maid of honour with Abigail's roomates from college, Alex and Taylor, as her bridesmaids. They were wearing a blue halterneck dress that stopped just above their knees. There were two flowers inbetween their breasts where the halter straps joined together. The three of them were wearing silver high heels on their feet and had their hair pinned back in elegant buns.

"I'm coming out now," Abigail announced as she stepped out in her wedding dress.

Everyone's jaws dropped when she glowed before them. She was absolutely beautiful. She was wearing a strapless Vera Wang wedding dress. **(AN: I know that didn't exist in 1995. But I like the dress, alright? It was the prettiest one in the collection I looked at!)** There was a medium size bow tied at her right side. The skirt wasn't too puffy and flowed elegently down her body. Her hair was slightly curled with a flower wreath near her veil which had a smaller one attatched to cover her face. Her makeup was the same way it was the night Nick proposed.

"Wow," Alex beathed.

"What? Don't like it?" Abigail asked nervously.

"Are you kidding? You look amazing!" Catherine gushed.

"Nick is one lucky guy," Taylor remarked.

"I think your story is romantic! Especially with how he did everything!" Alex squealed.

"From sharing an elevator one day to sharing your lives forever. It's like a fairytale," Taylor sighed dreamily.

"If this love story isn't classified as one, I don't know what a love story is. Actually, who determines a love story has some serious issues if he doesn't deem this a love story," Catherine remarked.

_Come real close.  
><em>_Forget the world outside.  
><em>_Tonight we're alone.  
><em>_It's finally you and I._

"Hey, man. You ready?" Warrick asked as he knocked on the door.

"Well?" Nick asked as he stepped out of the bathroom in his wedding tuxedo.

For his bridal party, Nick had Warrick as his best man and Gil and Greg as his groomsmen. He was going to ask Captain Brass to be one of his groomsmen as well but he said that he was going to walk Abigail down the aisle since her father won't be able to. Both Nick and Abigail were thankful for the kind gesture.

"Excuse me for acting like a gay douche, but you look SMOKING!" Greg howled.

"I betcha you two will be having eye sex the entire wedding!" Warrick winked.

"Abigail is a lucky woman," Gil complimented.

"To be honest, I think I am the one who's lucky. A woman like Abigail is one in a million. I don't know what I would do if I hadn't met her," Nick sighed dreamly.

"Man, don't go girly on me," Warrick pleaded.

"Dude, he's getting married in 2 and a half hours!" Greg reminded him.

"I was joking around! But still, be a man, man! Guys don't go sissy!" Warrick repremended.

"They do on their wedding day and the day their children are born," Gil retorted, "Speaking of kids, have you two ever talked about little versions of you running around the lab?"

"Yeah. We have. We want one or two. I want a little girl. I would love to see a miniture Abby running around the lab...and to be able to shoot her boyfriends," Nick smirked.

"I have to live to see that day!" Warrick proclaimed. **(Me: Too bad he doesn't. He could've shot Jason for Nick. Jason: I'm here, you know? Me: Dude, you're not even IN this story! Why are you here? Jason: Because I can. Me: I'm not even gonna argue with that.)**

"Anyways, come on. Let's head to the gardens," Greg said.

With that, they left Warrick's house and drove out to the gardens. Only Nick left the house for the last time as a single man.

_It wasn't meant to feel like this.  
><em>_Not without you..._

"OK. I have something old: the locket. Something new: the dress. Something borrowed: the wreath from my mum. Now I just need something blue," Abigail sighed. **(Me: Remember the tradition? A bride has something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue...most of the time. Not all brides follow the tradition. Yeah. I know. I'm sad. But I can't help it! I'm a sucker for weddings! Jason: You should've seen her with Will and Kate's wedding. Me: Shut your pie hole, McCann! Jason: Whatever, Bu-. Me: Say my last name, I will kill you WITH your own gun. *Jason immediately shuts up* I don't get it. He's a fearless bomber and I can make him wither with that simple threat. Now LEGGO!)**

"Leave that to me," Captain Brass said as he walked in and gave her a velvet box, "From your father."

Abigail opened the velvet box and saw inside a blue flower bracelet. She teared up when she saw it.

"He was going to give this to you on the eventuality of your wedding. Obviously, he didn't live for the moment that his little girl would marry her true love. So he asked me to do it," Captain Brass explained.

"Thank you so much!" Abigail cried as they embraced.

"It's time, Abby," Catherine cut in.

"You shall leave your house as Miss Nelson for the last time," Taylor sighed.

"When you return, you shall be Mrs Nick Stokes," Alex proclaimed.

"Excuse me. I'm gonna cry," Captain Brass whimpered. **(AN: Couldn't help myself.)**

"Aw, come here," Abigail sighed as they all shared a group hug.

"Now let's leave for the gardens," Taylor said.

"We have to get our best friend married!" Alex exclaimed.

"I want to see Nick when he sees you in this dress," Catherine smiled.

"Somehow, I think a dropped jaw will be involved," Abigail giggled.

They all walked out of the house and piled into the car. The car than took off for the gardens.

_Cause when I look at my life,  
><em>_How the pieces fall into place;  
><em>_It just wouldn't rhyme without you...  
><em>_When I see how my path,  
><em>_Seem to end up before your face,  
><em>_The state of my heart,  
><em>_The place where we are,  
><em>_Was written in the stars._

"Nick, nice to see you," the reverand greeted as they walked up.

"You too, father. Thank you for doing this," Nick thanked him.

"I was more than happy too. You were an alter boy in my services. Actually, I was MORE than THRILLED to fly all the way out to Las Vegas to watch my best alter boy marry the girl of his dreams. Think nothing of it," he responded.

"Pancho!," Bill Stokes nodded.

"Hey, Cisco," Nick said as he shook his hand and kissed his mother on the cheek, "Hi, mum."

"I am so proud of you," Jillian Stokes sobbed.

"That girl is one lucky woman," Bill commented, "And you're just as lucky you have found her, son. She's one in a million."

"I know," Nick agreed eagerly.

"Man. Do NOT cross a bridal party. You will die," Greg remarked as he walked up to them dusting off his tuxedo.

"You saw them?" Nick demanded excitedly.

"Just a heads up: Abigail looks smoking HAWT!" Warrick howled.

"Here come the bridesmaids," Gil sang quietly.

They turned around and saw Taylor walking down the aisle closely followed by Alex and then the maid of honour herself. When she was near the front, young Lindsay jumped out of her father's arms and stumbled over to her mummy. Everyone awed at the sight; even the priest. Smiling and laughing, Catherine picked up her young daughter and kissed her cheek before handing her back to Eddie and walking up the rest of the way. Then the music changed and the moment came. And...well, Abigail was right about what she said earlier. Nick's jaw DID drop when he saw her standing there. **(AN: What is it with him and jawdrops? Oh wait. That's me.)**

_Don't be afraid.  
><em>_I'll be right by your side.  
><em>_Through the laughter and pain.  
><em>_Together we're bound to fly._

Slowly, Abigail and Captain Brass ventured down the aisle towards the groom and the priest. Everyone watched her as if she was a masterpiece. Nick's and Abigail's eyes were locked on one another's the entire time. Both of them were smiling. When they finally reached the alter, Captain Brass removed the front veil and kissed her cheek before taking his seat.

"You look amazing," Nick whispered.

"You don't look bad yourself," Abigail murmured back. **(AN: I got the script from buzzle. It was really romantic.)**

Already, everyone's smiling and crying tears of joy. OK. It's understandable, but...COME ON!

"Dear family and friends, on behalf of Nicholas and Abigail, I welcome all of you for this marriage celebration. We are here today to encourage, celebrate and support the covenant these two people Nicholas and Abigail, beloved to us, now make and to share in the joy that Nicholas and Abigail are feeling as they pledge their love and commitment to each other. We rejoice and celebrate in the ways life has led them to each other and got them to the place where they now stand.

Nicholas, the woman who stands by your side is going to be your wife. She will look to you for comfort, for support, for love, for understanding, for encouragement, and for protection. You must never take her for granted, and always stand by her for good or ill," the priest read.

"Today in presence of God and family and friends, I join my life with yours. Wherever you go, I will go. Whatever you face, I will face. For good times or bad times, in happiness or sadness, come riches or poverty, I take you as my wife," Nick swore.

"Abigail, the man who stands by your side is going to be your husband. He will look to you for comfort, for support, for love, for understanding, for encouragement, and for protection. You must never take him for granted, and always stand by him for good or ill," the priest said.

"Today in presence of God and family and friends, I join my life with yours. Wherever you go, I will go. Whatever you face, I will face. For good times or bad times, in happiness or sadness, come riches or poverty, I take you as my husband," Abigail promised.

"In the Bible, Paul wrote beautifully about the power of love in his 1st book of letters to the Corinthians, Chapter 13," the priest started before reading.

_I wasn't meant to love like this.  
><em>_Not without you..._

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong; but rejoices in the right.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will passs away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but thenf ace to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.

So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

"For God's sake, just get to the vows already!" the entire bridal party (exlcuding Nick and Abigail) shouted, causing everyone to laugh...except for the priest. **(Me: Sorry, I was trying to be funny. Jason: And failing. Me: Shut up. Jason: She's the only one brave enough to badmouth me. Me: I won't be the only one soon... Now LEGGO!)**

"Sorry about that, man," Nick apologised, "Please continue."

"Very well. Now it is time for the vows," the priest announced.

_Cause when I look at my life,  
><em>_How the pieces fall into place,  
><em>_It just wouldn't rhyme without you...  
><em>_When I see how my path,  
><em>_Seem to end up before your face,  
><em>_The state of my heart,  
><em>_The place where we are,  
><em>_Was written in the stars..._

"Since it is your intention to marry, join your right hands and declare your consent," the priest requested as Abigail handed her flowers to Catherine and joined hands with Nick, "Do you take Abigail to be your lawful wedded wife to have and behold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Nick nodded.

"Do you take Nicholas to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and behold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?" the priest asked Abigail.

"I do," Abigail agreed.

_I made a few mistakes, yeah.  
><em>_Like sometimes, we do.  
><em>_Been through a lot of heartache.  
><em>_But I made it back to you!_

"The wedding ring symbolizes unity, a circle unbroken, without beginning or end. And today Nicholas and Abigail exchange these rings as confirmation of their vows to join their lives, to work at all times to create a life that is complete and unbroken, and to love each other without end. May the Lord bless these rings which you give to each other as the symbol of your love and fidelity.

Nicholas, take this ring and place it on finger, and state your pledge to her, repeating after me," the priest requested as Nick took the gold ring Warrick was offering him, "With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed," Nick repeated as he slid the ring on her finger.

"I offer you my hand," the priest continued.

"I offer you my hand," Nick recited.

"And my heart," the priest went on.

"And my heart," Nick repeated.

"As I know they will be safe with you," the priest continued.

"As I know they will be safe with you," Nick recited.

"All that I am I give to you," the priest went on.

"All that I am I give you," Nick repeated.

"And all that I have I share with you," the priest finished.

"And all that I have I share with you," Nick vowed.

_Cause when I look at my life,  
><em>_How the pieces fall into place,  
><em>_It just wouldn't rhyme without you...  
><em>_When I see how my path,  
><em>_Seem to end up before your face,  
><em>_The state of my heart,  
><em>_The place where we are,  
><em>_Was written in the stars!_

"Abigail, take this ring and place it on finger, and state your pledge to him, repeating after me," the priest instructed as Abigail took the gold ring Catherine was offering her, "With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed," Abigail recited as she slid the ring on Nick's finger.

"I offer you my hand," the priest read.

"I offer you my hand," Abigail repeated.

"And my heart," the priest continued.

"And my heart," Abigail recited.

"As I know they will be safe with you," the priest went on.

"As I know they will be safe with you," Abigail repeated.

"All that I am I give to you," the priest continued.

"All that I am I give to you," Abigail recited.

"And all that I have I share with you," the priest finished.

"And all that I have I share with you," Abigail vowed.

Everyone was sobbing tears of joy and smiling as they watched these two soulmates say their vows. And now they knew what was to come next: the moment they've all been waiting for.

_Cause when I look at my life,  
><em>_How the pieces fall into place,  
><em>_It just wouldn't rhyme without you...  
><em>_When I see how my path,  
><em>_Seem to end up before your face,  
><em>_The state of my heart,  
><em>_The place where we are,  
><em>_Was written in the stars..._

"Nicholas and Abigail, you have given and pledged your promises to each other and have declared your everlasting love by exchanging the rings. Your vows may have been spken in minutes, but your promises to each other will last until your last breath. As have pledged themselves to meet surrow and happiness as one family before God and this comminity of friends, I now pronounce them husband and wife. You may kiss your bride," the priest proclaimed.

They didn't need to be told twice. Nick took Abigail's face into his hands and kissed her with all he had. Everyone who was witnessing the wedding – including the few passer byers and workers – were clapping and cheering. Well, why wouldn't they? This is a dream come true. These two have had chemistry since that first meeting in the elevator almost two years ago. And now look at them. They stood there, pledged their vows and were pronounced man and wife. Like Catherine said moments before, this is a love story and those who don't agree don't know a love story when they see one.

Eventually, Nick and Abigail began to need oxygen more than each other so they hesitently broke the kiss. Besides, they could 'celebrate' their new marriage later.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Mr and Mrs Stokes!" the priest presented.

While everyone threw rose petals at them, Nick and Abigail walked back down the aisle smiling and laughing. Catherine and Warrick followed the newlywed couple. They were followed by Alex and Gil who were later followed by Taylor and Greg. Nick's parents and Abigail's mother and stepfather eventually followed them. They were followed by the priest who was then followed by the massive number of family and friends come to witness this momentous occasion.

And so on May 20 1995 on a beautiful spring day, Nick and Abigail became Mr and Mrs Stokes. May 20 1995 was also the day that their lives changed forever and – according to them – officially began.

_The state of my heart,  
><em>_The place where we are,  
><em>_Was written in the stars...  
><em>

* * *

><p><span>Exciting News – <span>_Mother's Prayer_ – Celine Dion

"I can't believe it!" Abigail whispered excitedly as she looked at the piece of paper before her.

It's been 14 months since Nick and Abigail have tied the knot. Things couldn't be happier. After the wedding, they took one month off for a honeymoon in the Bahamas (they wanted two weeks but Captain Brass' wedding present for them aside from walking Abigail down the aisle was a month-lonh vacation). And now, Abigail had some exciting news for her husband.

"What's gotten you so happy?" Nick asked with a smile as he walked into their office space.

"Nothing," Abigail sing-songed as she wrapped her arms around her neck and kissed him fully.

_I pray you'll be my eyes...  
><em>_And watch her where she goes...  
><em>_And help her to be wise...  
><em>_Help me to let go..._

"What's this?" Nick questioned as he made a grab for the paper, only to have Abigail move it out of his reach.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out later," Abigail smirked.

"Aw come on, Abs!" Nick moaned.

"I promise I will tell you when the case is over," Abigail promised.

"Abigail Mikaela Stokes," Nick sighed.

"Nice try, Nicky," Abigail giggled before turning to the fibre samples in the microscope.

_Every mother's prayer...  
><em>_Every child knows..._

It took two hours but they solved the rape and murder of 13-year-old Isabella White. Believe it or not, it was her 16-year-old brother. He had been developing feelings for her since he was 13. When he confessed his undying devotion to her, she declined him. In a fit of rage, he pinned her to the bed and took her virginity and crushed her to death. The case affected Nick and Abigail. Obviously, they were planning to have kids in the future. The thought of someone doing that to his own sister was just heartbreaking...

"OK. I changed my mind about kids. After this case, I now only want one child," Nick proclaimed as he collapsed on the couch in the office space next to his wife.

"I can't believe he did that to her. She was his sister," Abigail sighed.

"I'm telling you. If we have a daughter and someone hurt her that way, I would shoot him myself," Nick swore.

_Lead her to a place...  
><em>_Guide her with your grace...  
><em>_To a place where she'll be safe..._

"OK. We solved the case. Now I can tell you my little secret," Abigail announced.

"Please tell me you're not sick," Nick pleaded as he turned to face her.

"Well...on our aniversary two months ago, we ordered our aniversary present to each other," Abigail started, "But it's gonna take a little while to arrive."

"How long?" Nick asked.

"7 months," Abigail replied.

"Mind telling me what it is?" Nick quizzed.

"How do you feel about becoming a father?" Abigail returned.

"No way!" Nick gasped as it finally hit him.

_I pray she finds your light...  
><em>_And holds it in her heart...  
><em>_As darkness falls each night...  
><em>_Remind her where you are..._

"Way," Abigail smiled.

"Are you serious?" Nick demanded excitedly as he grabbed her hand.

"Yes," Abigail nodded.

"Abby, that's amazing!" Nick yelled as he scooped his wife in his arms and twirled her around.

"Nick, slow down!" Abigail pleaded, "I'm still queezy from morning sickness!"

"Sorry," Nick apologised as he set her onto her feet before kneeling down and kissing her stomach, "A baby. Can you believe it? I love you."

"I love you too," Abigail responded as she ran her fingers through his short brown hair while he hugged her middle and rested his head against her stomach.

_Every mother's prayer...  
><em>_Every child knows..._

"Excuse me a minute," Nick suddenly said as he stood upright with a big smile on his face.

"Where are you going?" Abigail asked as he walked out of the office.

"WHOO HOO! I'M GONNA BE A DAD!" Nick cried in joy as he ran down the hall.

"Why is Nick running up and down the halls screaming?" Gil demanded with a smile.

"Because we're having a baby," Abigail answered.

_Need to find a place...  
><em>_Guide her to a place...  
><em>_Give her faith so she'll be safe..._

"What?" Catherine gasped.

"No way!" Warrick shouted.

"That's amazing!" Captain Brass commented.

"Anyone got something for my throat?" Nick's hoarse voice asked, causing everyone to laugh.

"Congradulations, you guys," Gil congradulated as he past Nick a cough lolly.

"You guys will be amazing parents," Catherine promised.

"That little guy's gonna be lucky to have you," Warrick remarked.

"Now remember, Warrick, it can be a girl," Captain Brass reminded him.

"Thanks, you guys," Nick and Abigail thanked.

And so July 20 1996 was the day they began producing a family of their own.

_Lead her to a place...  
><em>_Guide her with your grace...  
><em>_To a place where she'll be safe...  
><em>

* * *

><p><span>Bittersweet Moment – <span>_Don't Take the Girl_ – Tim McGraw

_Johnny's daddy was taking him fishin'  
><em>_When he was eight years old.  
><em>_A little girl came through the front gate holdin' a fishing pole._

"Hey there, Nick," Warrick greeted as he walked into the room.

"Hey, man," Nick returned.

It's now been seven months since Nick and Abigail announced the pregnancy. So far, everything was going to plan. No complications...well, except that Nick and Abigail can't agree on a middle name for their little girl. And YES. Unlike the majority of first-time parents, they decided to ruin the joy and find out the sex of the baby beforehand. They found out they were having a little girl. When they found out, Nick was crying tears of joy...which encouraged teasing from Warrick. This is a dream come true for him. He is married to the girl of his dreams and now they are about to have a beautiful baby daughter. Could life get better than this for him?

"How's your wife?" Warrick asked.

"She's good. She's out with Catherine getting some baby clothes," Nick explained.

"You're about the only couple who left clothe shopping till right before the baby's due. You know that, right?" Warrick laughed.

"I want my little girl to look adorable in the recent styles!" Nick defended.

_His dad looked down and smiled.  
><em>_Said, "We can't leave her behind.  
><em>_Son, I know you don't want her to go, but someday you'll change your mind."_

"Hey. Do you guys know when the girls are going to be back?" Gil asked as he and Captain Brass walked in.

"They said after the lunch break ended. Why?" Nick responded.

"There's been a car accident on the road. They could be stuck in traffic," Captain Brass warned.

"Thanks for letting me know," Nick thanked before his cell phone rang, "Excuse me. *answers phone* Nick Stokes speaking. ...Abby? What happened? ...What? Are they alright? ...Oh my God. What hospital? ...OK. I'm on my way."

"What's wrong?" Warrick asked worriedly as he saw his best friend hang up close to tears.

"Abby and Catherine were in that car accident. They say that Abby and the baby might not make it," Nick explained as he grabbed his stuff.

"Oh my God," Gil mumbled.

"Nick, I'll drive. You're emotionally distraught and I don't want you in hospital too," Captain Brass said as he yanked the keys from Nick's hand, "Don't worry. I'll get us there fast."

_And Johnny said, "Take Jimmy Johnson, take Tommy Thompson, take my best friend Bo.  
><em>_Take anybody that you want as long as she don't go.  
><em>_Take any boy in the world.  
><em>_Daddy, please don't take the girl."_

"Catherine," Gil sighed in relief as they all ran into the hospital and embraced her, being gentle of her broken arm.

"What happened?" Captain Brass demanded.

"We were driving back to the lab and a car ran the red light. The truck driver was drunk," Catherine explained shakely.

"What about Abby? Please tell me she's OK," Nick pleaded.

"Nick, the car hit the passenger side. Abby was sitting there. Her injuries are pretty bad," Catherine sighed.

"What about the baby?" Warrick questioned.

"They won't tell me anything about her," Catherine responded.

_Same old boy, same sweet girl ten years down the road.  
><em>_He held her tight and kissed her lips in front of the picture show._

"Abigail Stokes. She was brought here because of a car accident," Nick said to the receptionist.

"Relation?" the receptionist asked plainly.

"I'm her husband. I'm also listed as her emergency contact and I hold her power of attorney," Nick explained whilst trying to keep his frustration under control.

"She's still in the emergency room. I can't let anyon-."

She didn't get to finish. Nick sprinted through those big white doors as if his life depended on it. Well, it sort of did. His heavily pregnant wife was just in a car accident and he was close to losing both her and his unborn daughter. And nothing was going to stand between him and his family.

_Stranger came and pulled a gun.  
><em>_Grabbed her by the arm. Said,  
><em>"_If you do what I tell you to, there won't be any harm."_

"Sir, I can't let you inside," the doctor informed him.

"That's my wife in there!" Nick boomed.

"I realize that, sir. But I have protocal to follow," the doctor said to him calmly.

"Captain Brass. Las Vegas Police Department," Captain Brass butted in as he flashed his badge, "Nick Stokes works for me in Criminalistics along with his wife, Abigail Stokes. If he wants to be in there with her, let him."

"But, sir-," the doctor began to object.

"TO DAMN WITH PROTOCAL!" Warrick snapped as he and Gil appeared next to Captain Brass.

"You let me in there to see my wife or I will shoot your brains out!" Nick threatened as he shoved him against the wall.

"And I will be more than happy to help," Gil piped in a little too happily.

"Alright," the doctor finally relented.

_And Johnny said, "Take my money, take my wallet; take my credit cards.  
><em>_Here's the watch that my grandpa gave me.  
><em>_Here's the key to my car.  
><em>_Mister, give it a whirl.  
><em>_But please don't take the girl."_

"Abby!" Nick sighed as he moved towards his blood-stained wife.

"Nick," Abigail's fear-filled voice responded.

"Are you OK?" Nick asked worriedly.

"Sir, are you her family?" Doctor Brian asked him.

"I'm her husband," Nick nodded, "What's wrong with my wife?"

"Sir, let's talk over here," Doctor Brain said as he pointed to the corner.

"I'll be right back, baby," Nick promised as he kissed her quickly before going with the doctor.

"Mr Stokes, the injuries are pretty serious. Ruptured spleen, fractured pelvis, cracked ribs, internal bleeding; the list goes on," Doctor Brain explained.

"What about the baby? Abby's almost nine months pregnant," Nick informed him.

"The baby's going into foetal distress. To make matters worse, Mrs Stokes went into labour at the scene. And with her fractured pelvis, she can't give birth naturally. We have to perform an emergency caeserean," Doctor Brain announced.

"What are their chances?" Nick questioned.

"If we don't operate soon, not very good," Doctor Brain sighed, "We would have started sooner. But you hold her power of attorney so we have to wait for your approval."

Nick took a glance at his pregnant wife. He noticed her scared facial expression. And honestly, he was scared to. He was scared he was going to lose her and the baby. And if this surgery gave them a chance...well, he'd be a fool not to agree.

"Alright. But I want to be in there with her," Nick agreed.

"Just come with me, sir. I need you to sign some forms and you need to put on some scrubs," Doctor Brain said.

_Same old boy, same sweet girl five years down the road.  
><em>_There's going to be a little one and she says it's time to go._

Nick signed the necessary forms and told everyone what was going on before washing his hands and changing into scrubs.

"What's going on?" Abigail asked.

"You're going into surgery. They're gonna perform an emergency caeserean to save the baby and then they're gonna operate on your injuries," Nick explained.

"Nick, it might not be too late for the baby. But it is for me," Abigail breathed.

Nick immediately knew what she was saying. And he didn't like it. He started shaking his head as tears began leaking from his eyes.

"No. No," Nick denied, "Don't say that, Abby. You're not gonna die. You're gonna have this surgery. You're going to live. And you're going to be the mother to our baby."

"Don't deny the reality," Abigail repremended him.

"It's time for the surgery," Doctor Brain announced.

"I love you," Nick murmured as he grasped her hand.

"I love you too," Abigail whispered.

Then Abigail was wheeled to the operating room after she was prepared for surgery. Nick held her hand the entire way.

_Doctor says the baby's fine but you'll have to leave.  
><em>'_Cause his momma's fading fast.  
><em>_And Johnny hit his knees and there he prayed..._

Inside the opearating room, Nick would glance from Abigail's face to where the action was going on around her swollen stomach. He would stroke her hair and whisper comforting words. Not once did he let go of her hand. Both of them were awaiting the moment their daughter would be born. It took a little while. But eventually, they heard a cry.

"Congradulations. It's a little girl. And she's healthy," Doctor Brain announced.

"Did you hear that? She's healthy," Nick repeated to Abigail whilst smiling.

She smiled back at him weakly. Nick took a glance at the little cot where they were cleaning and clearing the fluid from the lungs of his screaming newborn daughter. He turned back to his wife. It was then he noticed how pale she was and how loose her grip on his hand was.

"Abby?" Nick said gently.

"I love you, Nick," she whispered before her eyes closed and she flat-lined.

"ABBY!" Nick screamed.

"We're losing her!" one of the doctors cried.

"Sir, you have to leave," one of the nurses said to him.

"I'm not living my wife and daughter," Nick decided.

"We will take good care of your wife and baby, sir. We promise you," Doctor Brian promised as the operating thetre nurse escorted Nick out of the room.

Once he was outside, he leaned against the wall and just prayed that his wife and daughter would be OK. He didn't even bother heading out to the waiting room where Gil, Warrick, Captain Brass, Catherine and all their friends and family were waiting for news.

_Take the very breath you gave me.  
><em>_Take the heart from my chest.  
><em>_I'll gladly take her place if you'll let me.  
><em>_Make this my last request.  
><em>_Take me out of this world.  
><em>_God, please don't take the girl..._

"Mr Stokes?" Doctor Brain's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"How are they?" Nick asked worriedly.

"I'm sorry, sir. We tried everything. But we couldn't revive your wife," Doctor Brain apologised.

Nick felt like the world was crashing around him. His wife was dead. He lost the girl of his dreams. He slouched against the wall with tears spilling from his eyes.

"What about my daughter?" Nick demanded with his voice breaking.

"She's perfectly healthy. It's a miracle, to be honest. It's amazing she survived a tragic accident like that," Doctor Brian explained to him.

"I'll come see her in a minute. I have to tell the others," Nick said as he walked away.

"How is she?" Catherine questioned worriedly.

"She's gone," Nick mumbled.

"Oh my God!" Tora sobbed.

"What about the baby?" Bill asked.

"A healthy baby girl," Nick announced with a sad smile.

"We'll go let everyone else know. Spend some time with your newborn daughter. Hold her for the first time," Gil ushered.

With a sigh, Nick tracked down Doctor Brian and had him take him to his newborn daughter. He took him to the nursary and requested for Girl Stokes. The nurse nodded and went to fetch his daughter.

"Now, Mr Stokes, I have delivered thousands of babies in my career; natural and caeserean. However, not many of them were miracles and just as beautiful as your daughter," Doctor Brian complimented.

"Here she is," the nurse announced as she walked up to them with a pink bundle.

Gently, Nick took his baby girl from the nurse's arms into his own. He stared down fully at his daughter for the first time since she was brought into the world. She was an exact replica of Abigail, his now late wife. But the small amount of hair on the top of her head was different. Her hair wasn't as light as Abigail's but wasn't as dark as Nick's either. It was inbetween; a honey brown. As soon as she was in her father's arms, her eyes opened and stared at him. Her small hands reached up to him. Nick held out his finger and she held it with her tiny hands. Tears of joy leaked from his eyes. He wondered how he could create something as small, as fragile and as perfect as his baby girl. He managed to find some light in this moment of sadness. His wife was tragically killed and he was given a beautiful daughter.

"Hi, baby girl," Nick whispered tearfully.

"Have you thought of a name?" the nurse asked him.

Nick looked at the nurse with the same smile. He knew what he was going to name her. He would even use the name his wife wanted.

"Kadelin Taylor Stokes," Nick spoke proudly.

"I'll go get the forms for the birth certificate," the nurse nodded before leaving.

"Would you like a moment alone?" Doctor Brian asked before leaving at Nick's nod.

"Hi, Kady. I'm your daddy. I promise I will take care of you, always be there for you and make sure nobody hurts you. I love you so much. You mean the world to me. Welcome to the world Kadelin Taylor Stokes," Nick murmured to his little girl.

And so February 19 1997 was the day Nick Stokes lost his wife. It was also the day that his daughter was born.

_Johnny's daddy  
><em>_Was taking him fishin'  
><em>_When he was eight years old...  
><em>

* * *

><p><span>The Funeral – <span>_My Immortal_ – Evanescence

_I'm so tired of being here...  
><em>_Suppressed by all my childish fears...  
><em>_And if you have to leave,  
><em>_I wish that you would just leave.  
><em>'_Cause your presence still lingers here.  
><em>_And it won't leave me alone..._

Slowly, Nick struggled to open his eyes. He didn't want to. Yet he knew he had to. It has been five days now since the car accident also known as the day Abigail died and the day his little girl was born. And today was the day of the funeral. And honestly, he was dreading it. He and Abigail had only been married for almost two years before she died. This wasn't meant to happen. They were meant to spend 30, 40, 50 years together! They were meant to watch Kadelin and any other sons and daughters they would have had grow to become marvelous people. Both of them were meant to be there to see them get married and have families of their own and make their own accomplishes. He wasn't meant to do this on his own.

_These wounds won't seem to heal...  
><em>_This pain is just too real...  
><em>_There's just too much that time cannot be erase._

"Hey, baby girl," Nick greeted as he scooped daughter into his arms, "Whew. Someone needs a diper change."

Kady just giggled as her father laid her on the changing table and cleaned her before placing a new diper on her before dressing her. She was wearing a white dress and shoes with a black little jumper and a beenie since it is still winter. Once she was done, he kissed her head before placing her on the table once again so he could shower and change himself. He got changed into an all-black suit; the same suit he wore to the funeral for Abigail's father aka the day they started calling each other friend. With a sigh, he headed to the kitchen and prepared Kady's formula.

Since he was allowed to bring his newborn daughter home two days ago, he found a new routine he could follow until his personal leave from work was up. He would get up, tend to his daughter, shower, get dressed and feed her. He would also visit some family and friends to plan the funeral. After his leave was up, he would return to work. He talked to Captain Brass and he said that he could bring his young daughter to work and have someone look after her while he would go out into the field if need be. Even gave him a raise so he could support a baby.

"Hey. You hungry?" Nick asked rhetorically as he sat in the rocking chair with Kady in his arm and ged her the bottle before laughing, "Whoa. Slow down there, butterfly. There's plenty in there."

Butterfly was something Nick started calling the baby when they found out it was a girl. One day, Nick was leaning close to her stomach and said he saw a butterfly. As soon as he said butterfly, the baby started kicking and...well, the nickname kinda stuck. It was his personal nickname for his beautiful daughter. The nursary even was decorated in a butterfly theme. The walls were lavendar and green with chocolate brown furniture. There was a butterfly chandelier above them and a butterfly rug and little butterflies stuck on the wall courtesy of Gil and Warrick.

"Ready to go, butterfly?" Nick questioned as he hoisted her over his shoulder and burped her.

_When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears.  
><em>_When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears.  
><em>_And I held your hand through all of these years.  
><em>_But you still have all of me..._

"Hey, Nick," Warrick greeted as Nick walked up to them with Kady in his arms, "And how's my favourite goddaughter?"

"How are you coping?" Catherine asked worriedly.

"It's been hard. But thankfully I have a beautiful baby girl to get me through it," Nick responded as he kissed his daughter's head.

"Are you sure you only need the weekend?" Captain Brass questioned, "Because if you want to, you can take longer to get accustomed to having a newborn baby."

"I'll be fine," Nick reassured him as he bounced his daughter a little in his arms.

_You used to captivate me by your resignating light.  
><em>_Now I'm bound by the life you left behind.  
><em>_Your face; it haunts my once pleasant dreams.  
><em>_Your voice; it chased away all the sanity in me._

The funeral went on for what felt like hours. Bible readings, songs, slideshows, presentations by Abigail's relatives; you name it. Now it was time for the eulogy. And guess who had the honour of reading it. I'll give you a tip: it's Abigail's widower and the father of her daughter she will never meet. With a sad sigh, he handed Kady to Brass and walked up to the podium to deliver his eulogy. **(AN: First try at writing a eulogy speech. I got inspired by reading one online.)**

_These wounds won't seem to heal.  
><em>_This pain is just too real.  
><em>_There's just too much that time cannot erase._

"Abigail Mikaela Nelson, or as she later came to be known as, Abigail Mikaela Stokes. She was my spirit, my inspiration and my strength. It was four years ago when I was entering an elevator in the parking lot at the Las Vegas Police Department for another day at the CSI Crime Lab and you asked me to hold the elevatour for you. Later, I learned that you were my intern. We began to grow closer and eventually, we fell in love. When you got shot while making an arrest, I thought I was going to lose you before I could even tell you that I loved you. I wanted a life with you. I wanted a family with you. You were an angel who fell from the heavens to be with me.

Abigail, your name sounds like chime bells whenever someone says it in my ears. I couldn't get you off my mind. And even the smallest thing reminded me of you.

Five days ago, Abigail was heavily pregnant with our daughter, Kadelin. She was on the way back to the crime lab with our friend and collegue when they were hit head-on by a drunk driver. Our friend escaped with a broken arm, a few broken ribs, a concussion and a few cuts and bruises. Abigail's injuries were severe. She knew she was going to die from these injuries. She was tough. She was brave. She faced her final moments here with determination I will never forget. She fought to live long enough to give her unborn daughter a fighting chance. Sadly, she died not long after our daughter was born.

Abigail was an amazing woman. She faced danger everyday entering the field for her line of work. She never complained about the long hours. She never complained about the hard work. She never complained about the fact that a certain someone was underpaying her with the amount of overtime she put in. She was always there to help us. The amount of work she still had to complete didn't matter to her. She was always smiling, always pitching in brilliant ideas and made her way into the hearts, souls and minds of everyone here today; especially me. She left behind loads of memories that I will hold onto forever.

The entire time I knew her, I would buy her gifts for no reason. Flowers, jewelry, chocolates; you name it. I always either gave it to her on one of our dates or in front of everyone at the lab. She would thank me in every way she knew how; and I mean EVERY way. I wanted her to be happy. And just like every guy who is with the girl of his dreams, I wanted to give her the world. However, I always felt like I wasn't spending enough time with her although we saw each other everyday. I always felt like I was blowing her off for something unimportant. I felt like I wasn't there for her enough. I didn't plan on the fact that she would be in God's kingdom less than two years into our marriage and never being able to see her little girl grow up," Nick began crying. But he managed to continue.

_When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears.  
><em>_When you screamed, I'd fight away all of your fears.  
><em>_And I held your hand through all these years.  
><em>_But you still have all of me..._

"Whenever I had to go out into the field without her to investigate a crime scene, she was always scared that something bad would happen and that she would lose me. I felt every bit of sadness she felt. I felt her heartache. I felt every fear running through her. And I felt her relief when I returned safely. I couldn't be without her. Abigail served me well and at the same time helped me play a few jokes on our co-workers.

Abigail made me who I am today. She changed me for the better. None of us would be able to explain why she had to leave us so soon. All I know is that everything happens for a reason. The only thing I'm holding onto is the Bible teaching that God causes all things to work together and causes all good to those who love God. Abigail's death had a reason. There was a reason why she had to leave us and Kady behind.

Today we mourn for Abigail's loss. However, we rejoice for her new life alongside the Holy Spirit. As much as it pains me, I have to say goodbye to my beloved Abigail. We will be together again when the time is right. I will always love you," Nick vowed as he placed a red rose on her grave.

_I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone!  
>But though you're still with me, I've been alone all along!<br>_

Eventually, the funeral service came to a close and everyone had to head over to the cemetary to bury the caskett. Nick never let go of his daughter the entire time. He watched with tears in his eyes as they lowered his wife into the ground and placed the dirt on her once more. Even after everyone left, Nick was still there with his daughter.

"Hey, baby. I still can't believe that you're not going to be by my side anymore. I still can't believe that you will never be my wife again, that you will never see your daughter grow; that I won't have my partner-in-crime. I meant what I said to you at the service, Abby. I will always love you. I promise I will look after our daughter, that I will always be there for her and that I will make sure that nothing will ever happen to her," Nick sobbed, "We have to head home. Someone needs her nap. We will come visit again when we can. I love you, Abigail." He turned to his daughter and kissed her head, "Come on, butterfly. Let's go home."

With that, Nick and Kady left the cemetary without looking back once. It was too heartbreaking to.

And so February 24 1997 was the day that Nick Stokes buried his wife long before her time.

_When you cried, I'd wipe away all your tears.  
><em>_When you screamed, I'd fight away all your fears.  
><em>_And I held your hand for all these years!  
><em>_But you still have all of me...  
><em>_Me...  
><em>_Me...  
><em>

* * *

><p><span>A Moment – <span>_It Won't Be Like This For Long_ – Darius Rucker

_He didn't have to wake up.  
><em>_He'd been up all night.  
><em>_Lay'n there in bed listen'n  
><em>_To his newborn baby cry.  
><em>_He makes a pot of coffee.  
><em>_He splashes water on his face.  
><em>_His wife gives him a kiss and says  
><em>_It gonna be OK._

Nick awoke to the sound of his daughter's cries. It was the night after Abigail's funeral and the night before his leave would be over and he would have to begin juggling work and raising his Kady as a single parent. Nick was surprised by the sound of Kady's cries. Normally, she was good and slept through the night and was only awake when it was time for him to feed her. He didn't understand why she was suddenly wailing in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, he abandoned the warm embrace of his bed covers and trudged to the nursery across the hall.

"Hey, butterfly. What's wrong? What's wrong?" Nick asked as he scooped his daughter in his arms and gently rocked her, "What's wrong, Kady?" He glanced at the clock and saw that it was 2:30 in the morning, "Ah. I see. You're hungry."

_It won't be like this for long.  
><em>_One day soon we'll look back laugh'n  
><em>_At the week we brought her home.  
><em>_This phase is gonna fly by.  
><em>_So baby, just hold on.  
><em>_It won't be like this for long._

With Kady still in his arms, Nick walked to the kitchen and prepared her formula. After making it and checking if it was too hot for her, he sat on the recliner and fed his daughter. She sucked in it greedly, making Nick laugh. She definitely was his daughter. Within a half-hour, she was done and he held her over his shoulder as he burped her. Then she started whimpering again. Wondering what's wrong, he smelt near her butt and pulled a face at the aroma that greeted him.

"Whew. Butterfly, you need a diper change!" Nick remarked as his eyes watered a little.

Kady just giggled in response and gave him a toothless smile. (Remember, she's 6 days old. She doesn't have teeth.) Yep. She's cheeky just like him and her mother. He carried her back to her nursery and unbuttoned her pajamas. He grabbed the wipes, the powder and a fresh diper and changed his daughter. Once she was dressed, he tucked his daughter in. He bent down and kissed her head. Just as he went to leave, she started sobbing again.

_Four years later, 'bout four thirty,  
><em>_She's crawling in their bed.  
><em>_And when he drops her off at preschool,  
><em>_She's clinging to his leg.  
><em>_The teacher peels her arm off him.  
><em>_He says, "What can I do?"  
><em>_She says, "Now don't you worry.  
><em>_This will only last a week or two."_

Nick sighed as he picked her up once again. Immediately, she stopped crying and started reaching her little hands to her father. That was when he realised what was wrong with her. Sure, she needed her bottle and a diper change. But most importantly, she didn't want to be alone. And honestly, neither could Nick. He still couldn't accept the fact that a day ago, he had buried his wife long before her time. He still couldn't accept the fact that his beautiful baby daughter will grow up without her mother. Nick was saddened at the opportunities in the future Abigail would miss. Her first steps, first word, first day at school, graduations, boyfriends, weddings, children; she would miss a lot of her life.

_It won't be like this for long.  
><em>_One day soon we'll drop her off.  
><em>_And she won't even know you're gone.  
><em>_This phase is gonna fly by.  
><em>_If you can just hold on,  
><em>_It won't be like this for long._

"You wanna sleep with daddy tonight?" Nick questioned his daughter, only to have her giggle and reach up to him again, "I'll take that as a yes."

He walked out of the nursery and turned out the light. He was thankful he left the lamp on by his bedside. He didn't want to trip over any stray objects on the floor with Kady in his arms. He laid on the bed and tucked himself in with his daughter nestled comfortably on his chest. He reached to turn out the light, but Kady was cooing and pointing at a picture. He turned to what he was pointing at and saw that it was a photo of him and his dead wife not long after they found out about her pregnancy with Kady.

"Yes, honey. That's your mummy," Nick whispered to her, "I'm telling you, Kady. She was beautiful, strong, determined, smart and always so happy. She would always find a way to make you smile without even trying."

_One day soon she'll be a teenager.  
><em>_And at times you'll think she hates him.  
><em>_Then he'll walk her down the aisle.  
><em>_And he'll raise her vail.  
><em>_And the truth is that he don't mind.  
><em>_As he kisses her goodnight,  
><em>_And she says her prayers.  
><em>_He lays down there beside her,  
><em>_Till her eyes are finally closed.  
><em>_And just watch'n her; it breaks his heart.  
><em>_Cause he already knows..._

"She would love you so much, butterfly. You would be the light in her eyes. You're the best thing that has happened to me, Kadelin. And I will never let you go. Normally, people tell you to never say never. But I would break the rules a million times to make sure you are safe and still with me. I love you so much," Nick whispered tearfully as he kissed her head. **(Me: See what I did there? Jason: No. What did you do there? Me: There's some of Justin Bieber's song titles in there! And you're potrayed by Justin Bieber! Jason: Really? Which songs? Me: **_**Never Let You Go**_** and **_**Never Say Never**_**. Jason: You're sad. You know that? Me: That's what my friends and my parents say to me. LEGGO!)**

Kady just gripped his shirt in her small hands and giggled as if to say, '_I love you too, daddy._' Nick smiled. He wanted this moment to last forever. But he knew it wouldn't. He knew the time would pass before he could even blink. He would be smiling as she was awarded her high school diploma. He would be crying tears of joy as he watched his daughter marry her true love. He would be laughing and smiling with his grandkids and then he would watch her raise her own family from his place in the clouds beside his wife.

"Goodnight, Kadelin," Nick murmured as he turned out the light and slept with his daughter on his chest.

And so February 25 1997 was the day Nick swore he would never let his daughter go.

_It won't be like this for long.  
><em>_One day soon that little girl is gonna be,  
><em>_All grown up and gone.  
><em>_Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by.  
><em>_He's try'n to hold on.  
><em>_It won't be like this for long._

_It won't be like this for long...  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>And yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is the end of the information chapter for CSI: Season 1 Rewritten. Yes, everyone! I've decided to rewrite all of season 1 so whenever I mention previous moments, you can understand them better. I do this for you guys. Remember that. If you want to give me moments you want to be seen, go ahead and they will be seen. And...interesting fact: this took up 57 pages on Microsoft Word. New personal record! WHOO! Whoops. Just went on page 58.<strong>

**BYE AND PLEASE LEAVE ME A REVIEW!**


	2. Pilot

**Alright. Here we go!**

**Episode: Pilot**

**Summary: When a man is found dead in a bathtub, an apparent case of suicide by a self-inflicted bullet wound to the chest, Gil Grissom suspects a homicide. Nick Stokes and Warrick Brown are competing to solve their 100****th**** case and become a CSI level 3. Nick investigates the case of a man who was picked up by a hooker, drugged and robbed while looking after his now 3-year-old daughter, Kady. Warrick and Catherine Willows take on the case of a man who has been shot to death after breaking into the house where he was staying. When Warrick breaks protocal to get a warrant in his case, he is forced to babysit new hire, Holly Gribbs. After he leaves her alone at a crime scene to place a bet, she is shot.**

**Absent: Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle.**

**I own nothing aside from Kady. Y'all know the drill. ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>"<em>My name is Royce Harmon. I reside at 4276 Carpenter Street Las Vegas Nevada. I am 41 years of age. And I'm going to kill myself. I'd like to say that I love you to my mother, Paige, and my sister, Gina. I'm so sorry. I never wanted to put you through this. I just can't do it anymore. I've lost hope. I love you, Mum.<em>"

_GUN SHOT!_

A few days of so later, the house of the now deceased Royce Harmon was surrounded by police cars. And there were more arriving. And this particular car that was arriving contained Captain Brass and Gil Grissom.

"Here comes the nerd squad," Detective O'Rielly murmured to a nearby uniformed police officer.

"I hate the leg work!" Captain Brass proclaimed as he stepped out of the car, "I'm telling ya. That deputy chief job better come in soon. How much longer do I have to put up with these damn public appearances?"

"Gentlemen," Gil Grissom greeted.

"Hey, guys. Take a break, huh?" Brass suggested as he and Grissom walked into the house.

Once they entered the house, they immediately headed to the scene of the crime: the bathroom. And it was a pretty gruesome sight. Royce Harmon's body was lying in the bathtub with a sleeping bag underneath. Blood was gaping from his chest from the gunshot wound which ended his life. Blood was spattered on the wall above the bathtub. The window was open to allow the disgusting smell of decomposition to roam free. Grissom slowly approached the bathtub. Once he was nearby, he knelt and placed his metal case on the toilet. He immediately reached for a pair of latex gloves.

"Suicide," Brass said, "They've got the sleeping bag for clean-up, bathtub to catch the bullet, open windows so the stench alerts the neighbours. God bless them."

Brass coughed a little bit into his handkerchief before turning on the light so Grissom could see. Grissom placed his glasses on his head and began analyzing the victim and the crime scene. Brass' coughs and groans in evidential disgust were hard for Grissom to ignore. With a pair of tweezers, Grissom removed a maggot from the dead body.

"Pupua stage three," Grissom stated.

"English. I'm not an entomologist," Brass remarked.

"The third stage of lava metamorphosis," Grissom cleared up as he dropped the maggot into a container, "The victim's been dead seven days."

"That's a maggot and he stinks," Brass summerised before glancing at his watch, "Oh good. It's almost 11. If I get out of here in time, I can make it for the first rack of the Krispy Kreme."

"I think we may have our suicide note," Grissom announced as he removed the tape recorder from Royce's hand.

"_I never wanted to do this. I just can't do it anymore. I've lost hope. I love you, Mum._"

The sound of the gunshot from the tape recorder caused Paige and Gina Harmon to jump and scream in terror in their seats. They still couldn't accept the fact that this entomologist and detective are here telling them that their beloved brother and son committed suicide. Then again, would YOU want to believe it if you were in their shoes? Of course you wouldn't! That was a rhetorical question! But do you know that saying, 'everything is not what it seems'? Well...that term applies here. You'll find out later.

"Oh my God!" Gina sobbed.

"Go upstairs, Gina," Paige requested before her daughter raced up the stairs sobbing, "This can't be happening."

"We're so sorry about this, Mrs Harmon," Grissom apologised, "I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you."

"No. You don't understand. This is his picture. But that's not my son's voice," Paige announced, much to the shock of everyone.

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Petersen  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Gary Dourdan  
>George Eads<br>And Paul Guilfoyle

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

A dark red car pulled up to the parking space at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. This red-headed woman stepped out of this car and walked briskly up the stairs towards the doors and a particular destination. And that particular destination is Gil Grissom's office.

"Hello?" she called as she entered and took in the many jarred animals, "Oooh. Oh my God."

"Hi," Grissom greeted, causing the girl to jump and gasp, "Sorry. Welcome to Forensics. Gil Grissom. I'm your supervisor on Graveyard."

"Holly Gribbs," Holly introduced herself as she shook his hand, "Nice office."

"Thanks. Would you mind taking off your jacket and rolling up your sleeve?" Grissom asked.

"For what?" Holly questioned.

"I need a pint of your blood. It's customary for all new hires," Grissom explained to her.

"Why?" Holly quizzed.

"So many reasons," Grissom sighed.

"I haven't even clocked in yet," Holly laughed as she removed her jacket.

Ah, there's one place a lot of women should always stay away from unless you want the guys to go crazy and rape you: the mens locker room. Plus side, we're outside the mens locker room. Thank God. The arm of a man took a white magnet with the word SOLVED in big red letters and placed it on Unidentified Person which is his 99th solved case. And that mane's name is Nick Stokes. Yes, we're talking about the widowed father we saw last chapter.

"One more, baby. One more," Nick muttered as he clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

"Hey," Warrick Brown greeted as he walked up and patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Hey. What's up, bro?" Nick returned.

"99!" Warrick cheered as he placed the same magnet on his 99th crime, "You and me. Fresh heat. Best crime solver gets promoted to CSI 3, man."

"Yeah, yeah. Choice of shift, $8000 pay raise, extra week vacation, oh it's all about carbon, bro," Nick sighed dreamily.

"$20 by end of shift, I'm the man," Warrick challenged.

"Is there anything you won't bet on?" Nick asked.

"Nuh. It's college football season man! I won 8 of 10 this weekend. Killed them! Outside the Puxbees and those punk-ass Irish. I'm about 4Gs," Warrick bragged.

"Hmm. What's the line on us?" Nick questioned curiously.

"On us? I'm like Tiger, man. I'm heavily favoured," Warrick scoffed.

"Come on. Give me a winner for tomorrow," Nick dared.

"Dream Bay. Minus 7 and a half over 9ers. Always go with the better quarterback," Warrick advised.

"Cool. Well, what do you think, baby girl? You think Daddy's gonna win?" Nick asked as he picked up his 3-year-old daughter and settled her on his hip.

"Yeah!" Kady nodded eagerly.

"Daddy's little girl," Warrick mumbled teasingly as he ruffled Kady's honey brown curls.

"Hey. Good luck, tonight, man," Nick wished as he offered his free hand.

"Thanks. You too, man," Warrick returned as he shook his hand, "I hope you get a trick roll. You'll never crack that shit. Never."

"3-year-old here!" Nick reminded his friend's retreating form, "And I hope the Packers win by 7!"

"We analyze the crime scene, collect the evidence, recreate what happened without ever having been there," Grissom explained as he placed the pint of Holly's blood in the mini-fridge, "Pretty cool stuff."

"I just got out of the Acadamy. I already know this," Holly told him.

"Of course you do. Then if you'll just sign these wavers for personal injury or death following the line of duty, we can be on our way and begin our shift," Grissom reassured her as he handed two clipboards to her.

Holly began signing the forms Grissom gave her before moaning and holding her head as a wave of dizziness washed over her.

"What's the matter?" Grissom asked her worriedly.

"I feel a little light-headed," Holly informed him.

"Sit down. Sit down," Grissom immediately instructed as he gently guided her into her seat, "You're probably low on blood sugar. I've got just the thing. Here. Try one of these."

"No offence. I don't think I want to eat anything that's been in this office," Holly said to him as she took one look at what she was being offered.

Grissom took it away before offering it again whilst giving her a look. Sighing, Holly took one out of the container and analyzed it in her mind. Grissom took one out for himself to eat so she wouldn't be an only one.

"Is there a grasshopper in here?" Holly questioned.

Grissom just laughed and took a bite of his own grasshopper. Holly groaned in disgust. But she took a bite of it anyways...not without screwing her face. And they say they taste like chicken!

"Hi, Uncle Gil!" Kady greeted as she bounced into the room.

"Hey there, kiddo!" Grissom greeted with a grin before picking her up with a playful groan.

"Uncle Jimmy wants to see wu," Kady informed him.

"Who's this little cutie?" Holly asked as she pinched her cheek gently with a smile.

"I'm Kady," Kady introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Kady. I'm Holly," Holly returned.

"Well, we have to get briefed by Captain Brass. I see some interesting cases," Grissom sighed.

"Yeah," Holly nodded, "Wanna play when we're done, Kady?"

"Yeah!" Kady nodded eagerly.

"Sorry I'm late. Had to brief the new intern and I got a visitor," Grissom smiled.

"Good job, butterfly," Nick complimented as he placed his daughter on his lap, "Thanks for looking after her, uh..."

"Holly," Holly introduced herself.

"Nick," Nick responded.

"Let's get down to business, everyone!" Captain Brass exclaimed as he walked in before saying in a much softer voice, "Hey there, kiddo."

"Hi," Kady greeted as Nick bounced her on his lap gently with a proud smile.

"If you've got some free time, try to catch up with your reports. I'm getting a lot of heat from the sherif's office. There. I said it. Administration; not my favourite thing. Alright. Here we go. Nick Stokes: 414 Trick Roll. Victim found drugged and robbed at the scene. And yes, Nick. The scene will be safe enough for Kady. You can bring her along. Warrick Brown: 407 Home Invasion. Forced entry. Person reported firing multiple rounds at the suspect. Suspect's condition is unknown. Anyone seen Catherine Willows?" Captain Brass couldn't help but ask.

"Hey. Yes. Mummy's gotta go catch some bad guys," Catherine told her as she kissed her daughter on the cheek multiple times and turned to her sister, "I'll pick her up in the morning."

"OK," she responded with a nod.

"Bye, sis," Catherine said hurriedly.

"Bye," she replied before driving away.

"I love you!" Catherine called to them before practically running inside the crime lab.

"So your mother is Lieutenant Jane Gribbs from Traffic. Is that right?" Captain Brass asked Holly.

"Yes, sir," Holly responded enthusiastically.

"Well, congradulations, Gribbs. You're the, uh, 5th person I've been forced to hire. We're the number 2 crime lab in the country. We solve crimes most labs render unsolvable. Now what makes you think you belong here?" Captain Brass questioned.

"Sir, with all due respect, I thought the key to being a lucid crime scene investigator was to reserve judgement until the evience vindicates or eliminates assumption. You're pre-judging me. I graduated with honours in criminal justice at LNLV," Holly informed him.

"Yeah. So?" Captain Brass said.

"Well, that's not fair," Holly scoffed.

"Fair? Well, you think putting in a juiced-in lieutenant's daughter on a shift is fair? You know, I've been in the field 22 years. I've seen it all. I've seen people like you come and go. And you know what? They don't amount to nothing but headaches and bad press. Dismissed," Captain Brass retorted.

"Fine," Holly sighed before walking out of the office and leaving Grissom behind.

"Think you got through to her?" Grissom asked.

"You're scheduled to appear in an autopsy at 12:30am. They're cutting up that bozo who put a hole in his chest. Take her with," Captain Brass requested, "Because I think every new hire should experience an autopsy on their first night."

Rio! De Jeniro! Sorry. Saw the Rio Hotel. Couldn't help myself. Anyways, Warrick and Catherine are now ducking underneath the crime tape and walking towards the scene of the crime: a house. At least this time it's not another supposed suicide. But a supposed case of self-defence. A big emphasis on SUPPOSED!

"Ma'am, are you alright?" Catherine asked the woman who was nursing her baby daughter.

"She's fine. Just a little shook up is all," the man responded.

"Someone wanna tell us what happened here tonight?" Warrick requested as he began setting up his equipment.

"My wife invited her drunk friend here so he could get back on his feet. Two weeks tops, she says. That was six months ago," the man explained.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Jimmy! Jimmy! Could you at least take your sweaty feet off the head pillow? They stink," the man requested as he settled his young daughter to his hip._

_Later on, the man was kicking Jimmy out. He shoved the man out of the house and gave him his garbage bag filled with his few belongings._

"_Here's a $20. That's twice as much as you came with," the man remarked, "Hit the road!"_

_Later, Jimmy was back and pounding on the door screaming, "OPEN UP!" The man inside was loading his gun. Jimmy gave up on the pounding and shaking and kicked the door open. The woman screamed as Jimmy marched inside and the man shot him twice. Jimmy fell to the ground dead._

"_Call 911," the shooter requested.  
><em>_End flashback_

"That was it. I feared for my wife and my baby," he finished his story before turning to his wife and said, "Let's put the baby to bed."

"What do you think?" Catherine asked Warrick quietly as they walked away, leaving them to work the scene.

"Oh, he's lying. That's why I took this job. I can always tell when a white man is talking out his ass. It's a gift," Warrick answered.

"It's also your 100th," Catherine added before proceeding to take photos of the crime.

"Yeah. That too," Warrick agreed, "So you might say that I'm actually suspicious."

"Well, why don't you print that tred and see how good you are?" Catherine suggested before handing him a sheet of some sort of paper.

He placed the paper on the sole of the shoe and rolled it on with a mini rolling pin sort-of thing. He walked up to the door and placed the imprint of the paper next to the imprint on the wooden door.

"Why are you doing that?" the man asked as he walked back into the hallway for the living room.

"It's just procedure, sir. We want to make sure the shoe on the suspect is the same shoe that kicked down your door," Warrick explained.

"Wait. Wait a minute," Catherine suddenly said.

"What's the matter?" Warrick asked.

"Sir, after you shot the deceased, did you move, redress or alter the body in any way?" Catherine questioned.

"No. Why?" the man demanded.

"Talk to me," Warrick requested.

"The left shoe's tied differently," Catherine announced, "Sir, in the six months the victim lived with you, did you ever wear his shoes?"

"No. Why would I do that?" the man asked rhetorically.

"You wanna sign a statement to that effect?" Warrick questioned.

"Sure," the man nodded.

"Sir,what happened to your pinkie toe?" Catherine asked as she referred to the toe which was wrapped in a band-aid.

"I tripped over a rattle," he explained. YEAH RIGHT!

Inside the autopsy room, the body of the 'suicide' victim was uncovered. Holly gagged silently before placing the white mask on her face. She appeared to be pretty grossed out by the sight.

"You gotta breathe through your ears, Gribbs," Grissom told her.

"First dead body, ma'am?" the coroner asked.

"Yes, sir. But I'll be OK. To tell you the truth, he looks fake," Holly remarked.

"I hate to put a damper on your night, Grissom. But it looks like we got ourselves a homicide, after all," the coroner announced.

"You see, if the victim had extended his arms like here. I'll show you. Give me your hands," Grissom requested before Holly did so, "And pushed the trigger with his thumbs like so, the wound would look like this."

"He's right, honey. The wound is too big. This person was shot from 6 to 7 feet away. It's like somebody stood over him and BAM! Criminal homicide," the coroner added, "Let's see what God would have to say."

He began cutting the victim open. Holly gagged silently a few times before placing her hand over her mouth through the mask. She looked as if she was about to throw up.

"Are you OK?" Grissom asked.

"I'm sorry, sir. I can't take the smell," Holly apologised, "Restroom?"

"Right down the hall to your right," the coroner guided before Holly ran out, "She is cute."

Panting, Holly removed her mask and ran down the hall to the nearest room. She pushed the door open and ran inside before emptying her cuts onto the floor. The vomit flowed out of her mouth like Niagra Falls and you probably didn't need to know that, didn't you? Holly stood upright panting before realizing where she was. She wasn't in the restroom like she thought. She went to walk out but she didn't know her foot was standing on a sheet of plastic. She took a step and the plastic slid off a body and landed on the ground. She felt for the door knob.

"How soon does the captain want that one out?" the coroner questioned.

"8 hours," Grissom responded.

They didn't notice on the small black and white screen that Holly was in distress in the body room. She turned around and saw the body she accidentally uncovered. She gasped and turned to the door again.

"HELP! HELP ME!" she screamed as she pounded on the door.

Almost immediately, the door was opened by Grissom. She immediately ran out gasping in shock. She was almost hyperventilating.

"Bodies. I can feel them breathing. Oh my God," Holly panted before Grissom pulled her to his chest.

"It's OK, Holly. It's alright," Grissom reassured her before turning to the door and screaming, "You assholes! There. OK?"

Ah, Las Vegas. This is beautiful. I want to go there one day. Wait a minute. This was shot in 2000! It's changed a lot since then! But I still wanna go there one day! Fireworks! Rollercoaster! Cinderella castle! HELLO! This is America's playground!

"What's up, fellas? Got a call about a trick roll," Nick informed the staffmembers as he walked in with one hand carrying his bag and Kady in his other hand.

"Down the hall. Room 1413," the staffmember responded.

With a small shrug, Nick continued down the hall and entered romm 1413 where he saw a man sitting there in his boots, undershirt and boxers. It's not a flattering sight. I'll tell you that much.

"Mr Leferty?" Nick asked.

"What's left of him, anyway," he sighed before noticed the young girl in Nick's arm, "Training them young, I see."

"Sorry. This is my daughter. Couldn't find a babysitter," Nick lied as he approached him and set his daughter to the ground, "I'm Nick Stokes with Criminalistics. Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

That's the lie Nick always told them whenever someone asked him why he brought Kady to a crime scene. He couldn't bear leaving her with a babysitter. He loves bringing his daughter to work. They share a special bond. And he felt like he had Abigail with him whenever he was with her. Yes. Even though it's been over three years since she died, Nick still misses his wife like crazy. But she was the love of his life. Most people take decades to move on from something like that!

"She got everything. My wallet, my ID; hell, she even got my wedding ring," Mr Leferty listed.

"You're mawwied?" Kady questioned.

"Sure am, sweetheart," he chuckled as he ruffled her short curls.

"Hey!" she rejected cutely as she tried to fix up her hair, causing Nick to laugh. _That's my little girl._

"Did you wear a night cap? Do you think she could have slipped you something?" Nick asked.

"Can't drink. I've got a ticker. Look, officer," Mr Leferty responded.

"Nick. You call me Nick," Nick requested as he sat in front of him, "Hey, Kady. Why don't you go stand in the corner there with your hands over your ears?"

"OK, daddy," Kady giggled before skipping to the corner with her hands over her ears singing softly.

"Nick, I love my wife. We've been married 31 years now. I've never cheated on her before. I come into town for this convention and I'm sitting in the lounge minding my own business and this sweet-smelling brunette came up to me. Next thing I know, she's nibbling on my earlobe," Mr Leferty explained.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Mr Leferty was leaving the bar with this woman on his arm biting her ear in return. Next thing he knew, he was in his underwear and she strutted out in her black bra and panties._

"_Oh my goodness. Sugar. Oh my," he remarked as she removed her bra and he started doing things. __**(AN: OK. When I upload this chapter, I'm bumping up the rating to M. And I'm not saying what he's doing! I may have written smut stories but this is starting to creep me out!)  
><strong>__End flashback_

"For a second there, I thought I was your age again," Mr Leferty finished.

"Yeah. We've been seeing more and more of these this past 48 hours. Let's take a look. Open your eyes wide for me. Sunny side up," Nick requested as he waved his torch over them, "Now say 'Aah.'"

"Ahh," he said as Nick shone the torch in his mouth.

"Was she hot?" Nick asked, earning a chuckle from Mr Leferty, "Attaboy. Mr Leferty, your eyes look OK. But I noticed some discolouration on the inside of your lips. Have you always had that?"

"No. What the hell is that?" Mr Leferty asked as he examined his lips in the mirror...well, tried to, anyways.

"I'll swab your gums. See if we can find out what made you pass out," Nick promised, "Butterfly, you can come back now!"

"Ank God," Kady sighed in relief as she raced back to her father's side, "What were you talking about?"

"You'll find out when you're older," Mr Leferty responded.

"Got that right," Nick agreed before Kady gave him the puppy dog pout, "Don't give me that look, baby girl. I'm doing this for your own good. I don't wanna scar you for life."

"OK," Kady shrugged.

At X.Q Liquor, Grissom and Holly were pulling up to the scene where a robbery had occured.

"You know, I got my first robbery solved in a place like this. When we caught the guy, the owner was so happy that he gave me a dozen fresh foreign eggs from his cooler," Grissom explained.

"You're trying to cheer me up, aren't you?" Holly asked.

"Yes I am," Grissom nodded in agreement, "How am I doing?"

"Pretty good," Holly responded.

"Good. OK. Look. This is a routine robbery. Dust for prints. Check the video tape. Take lots of fun photos. I'll be back in about an hour to pick you up," Grissom promised.

"OK," Holly nodded as she stepped out of the car.

"If you get down early, use Channel 7 on your walkie!" Grissom called out to her.

With that said, Grissom drove away and Holly walked towards the liquor store entrance. Back at the lab, Warrick was analyzing something in a microscope.

"What's up?" Bo asked him.

"Hey, rookie. Hair fibres from the home invasion," Warrick explained as he invited the rookie to take a look, "Take a look. Tell me what you see."

"I see a lot of things," was Bo's response.

"Take a look at the end of the folecules," Warrick instructed.

"Oh yeah. You know, I see like little tiny seeds or sacks or something," Bo reported.

"That's pulp. When human hair is yanked out like this," Warrick told him as he yanked some of his hair as an example.

"OW! Damn, man!" Bo exclaimed in pain.

"You see these seeds?" Warrick asked, "Hair only comes out that form when it's yanked or pulled. Signifying a struggle. You know what? I gotta go. Tell Grissom when he gets back I want homicide to look into the husband. Peace!"

"Yeah," Bo said quietly as he saw Warrick walk away.

"How long is this going to take?" the owner asked in frustration as Holly dusted the cash register, "I'm losing business because of you."

"Ma'am, I told you if you let them in, they will contaminate the scene," Holly sighed calmly.

"Oh! Contaminate, my ass! What the hell difference does it make? You ain't gonna catch them! You never do!" she exclaimed.

"Sir, I'm on your side. I just wanna clear you," Warrick reassured his suspect.

"Than clear me. I already told you everything," the shooter reminded him. Sure. You did...NOT!

"I understand that. But the evidence is telling us something different. So I'mma ask you again. Just one more time. Before you shot the deceased, did a struggle ensue?" Warrick asked.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_I've got a gun," the man warned._

"_What are you doing?" the woman asked as she saw her husband and friend fight._

_She screamed as her husband held the gun to Jimmy and shot him twice. She continued to scream as he fell to the ground dead._

"_Call 911," the husband requested before approaching the victim and placing his shoe back on.  
><em>_End flashback_

"I must have tied the laces wrong," he realised, "I'm sorry. I...I know I should have told you earlier. But I was nervous. I mean, I took a man's life here. You don't believe me, do you?" Nope. He doesn't.

"This is Holly Gribbs requesting back-up at Junks and West Owens. Over," Holly spoke into the radio.

"_This is Catherine Willows. Are you in danger?_"

"Uh...not yet," Holly responded nervously.

"THIS IS MY POPSICLE STAND! I'LL DEFEND IT TO THE HELL IF I HAVE TO!" the lady exclaimed as she held a gun to Holly.

"So this is it, huh? Another $8000 q-tip," Greg remarked.

"Well, you're the chemist. I just need to know WHAT knocked the old man out," Nick told his dear friend.

"In 20 seconds, this will give us a complete chemical breakdown right down to the atom," Greg promised as he injected the solution into a machine, "But I'm gonna warn you, though. These mouth swabs don't always read. Now, vaginal swabs: no problem. Anal swabs: money."

"Anal swabs?" Nick repeated in disbelief.

"Anal swabs," Greg echoed as he hit a button and the machine activated.

"Ouch," Nick remarked quietly as he sat on a chair and pulled Kady into his lap before kissing her head in a fatherly fashion.

"What's that?" Kady questioned cutely.

"I can demonstrate," Greg offered.

"Not on my daughter," Nick immediately butted in as he clutched his daughter tighter to his chest.

"Daddy, you're hurting me!" Kady cried as she struggled against his grip.

"Sorry, butterfly," Nick immediately apologised as he slightly lossened his grip on his 3-year-old daughter, "Did you go down that FL2K from Dreamcafs?"

"I bought it the day it came out. Its graphics are a killer, aren't they?" Greg asked rhetorically.

"Yeah," Nick agreed quietly.

"My team's the Falcons. Who do you use?" Greg questioned.

"Random Moss," Nick responded.

Suddenly, they heard a DING from the machine and they saw the results being printed out. Greg immediately took the blue piece of paper and read the writing inscripted on it.

"Didn't take, did it?" Nick sighed.

"Hints of saliva, adhesives; that's it. Sorry, man," Greg apologised.

At the liquor store, Catherine stormed inside with her gun drawn ready to fire if necessary.

"Alright. Put the gun down," Catherine requested.

"What? We're getting robbed again now?" the bar owner exclaimed in frustration as she put the gun down and raised her hands.

"Everything OK in here?" Catherine asked Holly.

"Yes, ma'am," Holly responded quietly as Catherine confiscated the gun.

"Control, Junks is a Code 4," Catherine spoke into the radio.

"_Rodger that._"

"You're the new girl, right?" Catherine questioned.

"Yeah. Hi. I'm Holly Gribbs," Holly introduced herself.

"Catherine Willows," Catherine returned.

"And I'm Lesley Stall! Forget the formalities! Which one of you people's going to clean up my counter here?" Lesley demanded.

"Let me tell you something then, lady. If you don't care about catching the suspect, neither do we. We're out of here. You can pick your gun up tomorrow!" Catherine told her as she and Holly walked away.

"You can do that?" Holly asked nervously.

WHOA! Nice hit, Grissom! He just swung a golf club at a model of a victim. The blood spattered on the sheet behind it. This is so cool!

"Down!" Warrick remarked from the doorway.

"Blunt-force trauma case. Berminda Hills Country Club. Pregnant wife caught her husband in bed with another girl. What do you think? Millicious intent?" Grissom asked as he took photos.

"A little bit. Yeah. How's it coming?" Warrick questioned.

"It's coming," Grissom responded shortly.

"Whose blood is that?" Warrick asked.

"The new girl's. Would you like to donate?" Grissom questioned.

"Hell no!" was Warrick's immediate answer.

"How did the follow-up go with the husband?" Grissom quizzed, "Bo tells me you're onto something."

"The story's changed a bit. Now he says there WAS a struggle. Said he stepped on his shoe while they were fighting," Warrick told him.

"You believe him?" Grissom asked.

"At first, no. But now...hell, I don't know what to think," Warrick confessed as he sat in a seat near Grissom's desk.

"You ever see the movie, _The Exocist_?" Grissom questioned.

"Yeah," Warrick responded confusedly. What the bloody hell does a movie have to do with the price of eggs?

"The old priest and Father Carris are about to exercise the demon. Father Carris explains that he's recorded the little girl's voice. He's broken down the spirit into three distinct personalities. But the old priest quickly corrects him. 'There is only one.' Forget about the husband, Warrick. Forget about the assumptions. Forget about the promotion. These things will only confuse you. Concentrate on what cannot lie: the evidence. Follow the reason we're having this conversation," Grissom advised.

"Follow the shoe," Warrick whispered.

Before Warrick knew it, he was inside the evidence locker removing the victim's sneaker from the brown evidence bag with latex gloves. He sat by the desk and began examining it. He examined the outside first for anything odd. But found nothing. He examined the laces. Found nothing. But when he looked inside, he found something particular: a stray toenail clipping.

"Well, I'll be damned," Warrick cursed.

He tapped the bottom of the shoe and the toenail fell onto the table. He held it up with a pair of tweezers and said, "Tripped over a rattle, my ass."

"Remember this from your suicide case?" a woman asked Grissom, "I pulled it off. Something's not right. The impression's perfect. Maybe too perfect. Take a dander."

Grissom did. And that was when he saw that she was right. But he noticed something else too.

"What are those red particles?" Grissom demanded.

"Latex flakes," she responded.

"From what?" Grissom questioned.

"Protective gloves, maybe. But the way I figure it, this son of a bitch is smart; probably planted the damn prints. So on a hunch, I chemically tested the flakes. Guess what it was laced with," she challenged, "Lisothen."

"That chemical's found in cooking spray, isn't it?" Grissom guessed, earning a single nod, "If latex flakes and cooking spray ended up on a blind date, how would the night end?"

"A lot better than ours did," she remarked.

"I know. Pink Floyd's not your thing," Grissom sighed.

"I have on cowboy boots. I work in a lab. What makes you think _Dark Side of the Moon_ singing to the _Wizard of Oz_ is going to warm a damn barn?" she asked rhetorically.

"Just thought it would be something different!" Grissom defended.

"Wanna do something different? Pin me against the wall, lay one on me and mean it!" she joked, "You're slacking, pal."

"How long until we get a hit?" Grissom asked as he stood next to her by the computer.

"Could be 4 minutes. Could be 4 days. But you can bet your ass I can get you something. She always does," she sighed.

"Pin you against a wall?" Grissom repeated.

Now Catherine and Holly were at a diner having a late night drink and snack. Well, they've been working for a few hours. They were hungry and thirsty! They probably could've eaten the crouch of a low-flying duck! **(Jason: Quack quack. Me: Seriously, man? Jason: I was bored. OK? Me: Can't argue with that logic. Jason: Love to see you try. Me and Jason: LEGGO!)**

"Look. I gotta be honest. This isn't me. I was pushed into it by my mum. She's a lieutenant in traffic. She's never gonna get out of traffic. So, uh, I'm fulfilling her dreams. Not mine," Holly explained.

"I can sit here and I can baby you and I can tell you to quit. But I'm not gonna do that because I really love my job. We are just a bunch of kids that are getting paid to work on puzzles. Sometimes there's a piece missing. Sometimes we solve it in one night," Catherine said.

"So you think I should stick with it?" Holly guessed.

"Stick with it. The cops? Forget it. They wouldn't know fingerprints from pawprints. And detectives chase the lie. We solve. We restore the piece of mind. And when you're a victim, that's everything. Stick with it. At least until after you solve your first. And after that if you don't feel like King Kong on cocaine, then you can quit. But if you stay, my hand to God, you will never regret it," Catherine promised her. **(Me: *giggling* That's a classic! I have to use that. Jason: Use it at your school, they will kill you. Me: You think I don't know that?)**

"_Catherine Willows. Cut your lunch short. You've got a 428._"

"Copy," Catherine responded sadly.

"If you want me to call Judge Culner at 4 in the morning, you'd better bring me something more than a toenail!" Captain Brass exclaimed.

"Captain, you gotta make that call! If you don't, he'll walk!" Warrick retorted.

"And what have you got? Hair fibres. Big deal! So there was a struggle! Who gives a coin cob? The guy was protecting his wife and kid!" Captain Brass reminded him.

"I've got the toenail! If I can get a warrent and match the husband's shaving to his toe, I can prove that the suspect's foot was inside the victim's shoe! That alone will establish it was murder!" Warrick promised.

"The guy lived there, Warrick! Maybe he put on the victim's sneaker to fetch the paper one morning!" Captain Brass stated.

"I have a sworn statement stating he never wore the victim's shoe!" Warrick threw back.

"You don't even know if the toenail was the vic's," Captain Brass shot.

"It can't be the vic's! He was wearing socks!" Warrick yelled.

"Not good enough," Captain Brass decided.

"Not good enough?" Warrick repeated in disbelief.

"I SAID NO! PRONG DAMNIT!" Captain Brass snapped causing Warrick to snatch the piece of paper and walk away, "We're not done yet, Warrick. You stay right there. *answers phone* Criminalistics. Brass."

"_Got a name on the suicide case, sir. He's local._"

"He's local? Good. I'll phone the judge for a warrent," Captain Brass promised before disconnecting the call, "Hey, Warrick. I guess we're all done now. If you mind closing the door behind you, I gotta make an important call. We'll talk about your little foot fetish later."

Somewhere in Las Vegas was a car accident site. I can tell you it's near a lot of casinos. Nick walked up to the officer again with his bag in one hand and his sleeping daughter in his free hand. How she could sleep through all this chaos, Nick didn't know. But she definitely was comfortable nestled against her father's shoulder.

"A white female. Mid 20s. Said she passed out behind the wheel. You might wanna check it out," the officer informed Nick.

"Alright. Thanks, brother," Nick thanked before he approached the car and set the bag down, "Hi. Nick Stokes. Criminalistics. Mind if I take a look?"

Nick handed his daughter to a nearby officer who volunteered to hold her and shone a light on the woman's face. She definitely was a white female in her mid 20s. Her hair was brown and she had a bloodstain on her head near her temple.

"I don't know what happened," she moaned, "I remember this song that was playing on the radio. I just don't remember passing out."

"Say 'aah'," Nick requested.

"What?" she breathed.

"You know, 'aah'," Nick demonstrated, causing her to laugh.

"Aah," she obeyed.

"No discolouration. I don't see anything criminal here. Take her to the hospital. Have her checked out," Nick requested before he took his still sleeping daughter in his arms, "I have to get this little one back for a nap."

"How on Earth does she sleep through this racket?" she slurred as a paramedic approached her.

"God only knows," Nick laughed with an eye roll before walking away.

In the dark of night, Warrick was sitting in his car outside a mansion. He was contemplating. Should he or shouldn't he?

"Well, might as well roll the dice. Take that ass-whooping," Warrick remarked before throwing his gun onto the passenger seat.

As soon as he stepped out, a police car pulled up and an officer stepped out with his gun drawn. His partner soon followed.

"Police! Put your hands on your head and walk backwards towards me!" he requested.

"I'm from ID! Check my badge! I'm with Criminalistics!" Warrick explained as he obeyed the first half of the instructions.

"Keep your mouth shut and follow my instructions! Now get down on your knees!" he instructed.

Ah, speak of the devil. Judge Culner and his wife stepped out of the house in their dressing gowns fuming mad. After all, they were disturbed from their peaceful slumber at 4 in the morning! Wouldn't you be mad?

"I'm not getting down on my knees for anybody! You can shoot me!" Warrick retorted.

"I SAID GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!" the cop repeated.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Judge Culner demanded as he approached the scene, "That's Warrick Brown from ID! Put those guns away!"

"Sorry, judge. We got a call from a neighbour about a black man outside your house. We responded," the officer explained.

"Alright. You caught him. Congradulations," Judge Culner cheered sarcastically, "Get out of here before you wake the neighbours."

"Yes sir," the officer nodded before walking away whilst talking into his walkie talkie, "Dispatch, please be advised Judge Culner's residence a Code 4: False Alarm."

"Brown, what the hell are you doing?" Judge Culner asked.

"I'm sorry, Judge. Captain Brass wouldn't call you for a search warrent. I got a wappa on the line with a hundred pound test," Warrick told him apologetically.

"You got a winner for me?" Judge Culner questioned with a grin, "I'll make it worthwhile. You give me a name."

"Farth," Warrick gave.

"I knew it! Listen, kid. I'll make a deal with you. You put $5000 down on the Pack for me. I'll give you a blank warrent," Judge Culner promised, "All I ask is that you have the ticket in my chambers before kick-off. You do that, I'll square it with your captain."

"No problem, judge," Warrick reassured him as they shook hands. Shouldn't have done that...

"Staged suicide? You're kidding right?" Paul Millander asked in disbelief, "I swear on my kids I've never seen that man before in my life!"

"Then how the hell did your fingerprints wind up at the scene?" Detective O'Rielly questioned, "We talked to the family. The deceased didn't even know any Paul Millanders."

"Oh. I...hi, sergeant," Grissom greeted as he walked in, "Would you mind if I...?"

"Oh, you want a whack at him, Grissom? Be my guest," Detective O'Rielly said before walking out.

"Hi, Mr Millander," Grissom said as he shook his hand, "My name is Gil Grissom. I work with Criminalistics. May I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure," Paul responded.

"Do you have any hobbies?" Grissom asked, "Make model airplanes? Make toys? Wind chimes for the backyard? That sort of thing?"

"No. Why?" Paul demanded.

"Well, we found some particles of latex on your thumb print. Would you have any reason to have access to that particular substance?" Grissom questioned.

"Well yeah. Sure. At my job," Paul nodded.

OK. Now this place is so cool! Masks, arrows; you name it. If it's theatrical, it's there! Perfect for Halloween and stage productions! When Grissom stepped inside, he couldn't help but be amazed. Detective O'Rielly had to admit that he, too, was pretty impressed with the authentic works.

"Wow. You made all these?" Grissom asked in amazement.

"Yes, sir. Everything from scratch. We mould, carve, shave, paint and authenticate," Paul gushed.

"Excellent work. These seem very real," Grissom complimented.

"Thanks," Paul thanked.

"You ever make any rubber hands?" Grissom questioned.

"Sure we do," Paul responded before searching for the box containing them, "These are our best seller right here. Sold 10 000 units of these last Halloween. Even used my own hand for the mould."

"These are your prints," Grissom realised.

"Yeah," Paul nodded, "Why? What does that mean?"

"It means you're free to go. He's not the guy," Grissom announced.

"Grissom, are you sure?" Detective O'Rielly questioned.

"This explains the latex and the lithoson. You need oil to make a print. Anyone who purchased any of these hands could be the killer," Grissom explained, "And what's worse? He's profficient in forensics."

"Hey! Doctor Leever! Hey!" Nick called as he ran up to him gently with Kady in his arms.

"What's up, man? I got your page. Hi, Kady," Doctor Leever greeted.

"Hi," Kady returned.

"Have you got any trick rolls lately?" Nick asked.

"A ton of them. Why?" Doctor Leever sighed, "I've got six pros coming to the ER these last two nights. All with two distinct similarities. Every girl has been mysteriously knocked unconscious and we found some skin discolouration."

"Whoa. Skin discolouration?" Nick stopped the guy.

"Yeah," Doctor Leever nodded.

"Around the lips?" Nick assumed.

"No. Their nipples," Doctor Leever corrected.

"We meet again," Nick remarked after he pulled the curtain and pulled out a blindfold, "Come here, Kady."

"Couldn't find a babysitter?" she assumed.

"I just love bringing her to work with me. Single father. One of the perks," Nick explained as he did up the blindfold on his daughter and sat her in the seat.

"Daddy, where are you?" Kady asked.

"I'm right here, butterfly," Nick reassured her as he gently squeezed her shoulder and kissed her cheek before turning back to the lady before him, "May I see your discolouration?"

"You wanna give me 20 bucks?" she asked.

"You wanna do time?" Nick retorted.

With a sigh, she removed the front of the hospital gown to reveal her breasts with nipple discolouration; just like the guy who was drugged and robbed Nick noticed.

"You know, I just came from a trick roll downtown. The victim's mouth had similar blouching. Chances are whatever he injested orally you obsorbed through your nipples. Knocking you both out. So I'll give you a choice. You give back the old man his belongings, you tell me what you girls are using and I won't charge you with attempted murder. Which is it?" Nick asked as he undid the blindfold on Kady.

With a sigh, the woman went through her large bag and gave him the secret weapon: eyedrops.

"Eyedrops?" Nick had to restrain himself from laughing.

"What's that?" Kady asked.

"It's this special stuff people put in their eyes," Nick explained.

"Why?" Kady questioned.

"Well, there's a lot of reasons. But everyone never has the same one," Nick told her in a baby voice as he picked her up with a playful grunt causing her to giggle and the woman to smile at the sight.

"Nope. Escopolamine. It's a chemical used for motion sickness. This eyedrop bottle's a front. One drop of this stuff and she's out cold," Greg informed Nick when he and Kady were at the lab.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_The woman was looking at herself in the mirror adjusting her bra. Then she grabbed the eyedrop bottle and shook her up. She squeezed a few drops into her bra near her nipples and rubbed them together when she was done. Mr Leferty took one...I'm not gonna say it and passed out. Taking the opportunity, she stole his wallet and wedding ring before making her escape. As she drove along the road, she began feeling woozy. Before she knew it, she had passed out and the car crashed.  
><em>_End flashback_

Nick couldn't help but laugh at the thought and the irony of it all.

"What's so funny?" Kady asked.

"That's for when you're older!" Nick immediately responded as he turned serious again.

"We're ruling out suicide. The evidence leads us to believe that it was in fact a homicide," Grissom told Paige and Gina.

"Then he was murdered," Paige summised.

"I believe so," Grissom nodded.

"You know, this might sound funny but I feel better knowing that he didn't take his own life. I mean, that would never sit right. He was such a good man," Paige sobbed.

"We'll find him, Mrs Harmon. I promise you. There's always a clue. I'll find it," Grissom promised her.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Catherine had just arrived for her call. And it was something that was going to affect her. It's because of the crime and who the victim was.

"Uh, nurse, excuse me. I'm Catherine Willows from Criminalistics. I'm here for the 428," Catherine explained before she was lead to a room to see an innocent child around Lindsay's age sitting on the bed with her dolly, "Hi, Laura. I'm Catherine. How are you doing, kiddo?"

"What's that?" Laura questioned as she pointed to the black bag Catherine brought in with her.

"Well that is a camera. I have to take a few photographs. Before I do that, though, could you do me a favour?" Catherine kindly requested before opening a clipboard, "Could you look at this drawing and point out to me where he touched you? Could you just show me?"

Laura was hesitent. But eventually, she pointed to where she was touch and left feeling violated: near her vagina. Catherine went to pinpoint where she had pointed with her pen. But there was something that stopped her.

"Could you hold my dolly?" Laura asked.

"I'd love to," Catherine responded as she held her.

"No. Not just hold her. Take her away to your house," Laura pleaded.

"To my house?" Catherine repeated, "Why?"

"Because I don't want the same thing that happened to me to happen to Dolly," Laura explained.

The smile disappeared from Catherine's face as soon as those words left her cute little lips. She lifted up the skirt of the doll's dress and saw a green band-aid on her lower area. She gave the doll back to her and went to touch her cheek gently.

"It's OK," Catherine whispered, only to have Laura turn away, "It's gonna be OK, sweetheart."

"You're off the case!" Captain Brass announced.

"WHAT?" Warrick exclaimed in disbelief, "Why?"

"Why? You deliberately went over my head, Brown! The phone call from the judge saved your job but not your ass! I want you shadowing Gribbs. A robbery just came up," Captain Brass announced.

"Captain, you can't do that! I mean, the guy's-!"

"Tough. Grissom!" Captain Brass called.

"I don't believe this!" Warrick yelled.

"Have Warrick shadow Gribbs for the next three weeks or until Nicky makes his 100th. Whatever comes first," Captain Brass requested.

"I hate your ass! You know that? People walk everyday because of you! Everyday!" Warrick shouted.

"That's enough. That's enough, Warrick! Let's go!" Grissom butted in as he dragged Warrick outside.

"DAMNIT, GRISSOM! I HAD HIS ASS TOO!" Warrick exclaimed.

"Yes. You had him. And the minute you started thinking about yourself instead of the case, you lost him! There is no room for subjectivity in this apartment, Warrick. You know that! We handle each case objectively without presumposition regardless of race, colour, creed or bubblegum flavour! OK?" Grissom repremended. **(Me: *giggling* Bubblegum flavour. Classic. Jason: I'm in the mind of a lunatic! Me: This coming from the guy who makes bombs for a living. Jason: HEY! I-. Me: Spoil **_**Can't Find Love**_**, I will kill her. Jason: You wouldn't! Me: Try me. Jason: I know you. I wouldn't even go there. Me: Wow. Me, a 14-year-old author scaring the wits of a 16-year-old bomber. That's new. And yes. I'm actually 14! Which means that CSI first came on the air when I was 3!)**

Warrick nodded and Grissom walked back inside his office. Warrick turned and saw Holly standing here with her gear ready to go. Obviously, she heard everything that had happened. Well, how could she not? It was pretty loud in there.

"Let's go," Warrick mumbled as they walked away.

Before they knew it, Holly was at the crime scene. She was unaware of the untimely fate that was about to befall her in a Meer matter of moments. And this will hit everyone pretty hard too.

"Sorry you gotta babysit," Holly apologised.

"Yeah. I'm sorry too. Control. P4442 arrived," Warrick spoke into the radio.

"_Copy that._"

"OK. Go inside, dust for prints, make sure you take plenty of-."

"Photographs, be thorough; don't worry. I got the scene speech from Mr Grissom," Holly reassured him.

"Good. Look. I gotta run an errand. You gonna be OK on your own?" Warrick asked.

"Are you kidding? I'm fired up ready to go. Besides, there's an officer here," Holly stated as she stepped out of the car.

With that, he started the ignition and drove away, leaving Holly to analyze the crime scene on her own and meet her untimely fate.

"Morning. Gil Grissom. Forensics. I'm taking over the case for Warrick Brown. Mind if I come in?" Grissom asked.

"How can I help you?" the shooter sighed.

"I need to give you a pedicure," Grissom announced.

"Come again?" the shooter requested.

"I have a warrent for your toenails," Grissom informed him as he held up the warrent.

"A warrent," the shooter breathed as he and Grissom entered the house, "What am I? A suspect? I already gave you a sworn statement."

"A statement's just a public record of your version. We'll still need proof," Grissom explained as the wife came in with her dressing gown on.

"Well, I'd love to help you. But I already cut them," the shooter said.

"May I see where you discarded your clippings?" Grissom requested.

"I flushed them down the toilet," the shooter told him.

"May I see your toilet?" Grissom asked.

And that is what led Grissom and the shooter to the fairly descent bathroom. He looked into the toilet bowl – even lifted the toilet seat – to see, to his displeasure, no toenail clippings. Ah. Wait a minute!

"I'll be right back," Grissom promised before walking away.

He turned out the light and grabbed a UV light thingy.

"Excuse me," he said before closing the door.

He waved the head around the bathroom to look for any stray toenail clippings. He went to the corner before travelling around the toilet bowl. That was when he found one in the footmat. Ah-ha! Got ya, you bastard!

At another residence in Las Vegas, a silver Jeep (I think) pulled up into the driveway. The driver was Catherine Willows. As she stepped out and walked to the front door, she activated the radio.

"Control, this is P3901. I'm gonna be on break for about 15 minutes," Catherine spoke into the radio.

Immediately, she headed to a bedroom which was filled with various toys, clothes and a bunk bed. On the bottom bunk sleeping comfortably underneath her covers was her young daughter, Lindsay.

"Mummy?" Lindsay whispered as she woke up.

"Shh. We don't wanna wake up Jeremy," Catherine whispered back as she pointed to the young boy on the bunk above her.

"Mummy? Mummy, what's wrong?" Lindsay asked as she noticed her mother on the verge of tears.

"Mummy just kinda had a rough night. Mummy couldn't drive here fast enough to tell you how much I love you," Catherine murmured.

"I know, mummy. I love you too," Lindsay responded quietly.

With a smile, Catherine embraced her young daughter and gave her a motherly kiss on the temple whilst rubbing her back.

Back at the lab...well, toenail shavings are being compared. But so far, none of them were matching. And yes. I'm talking about the toenail shavings from the home invasion murder.

"Nope. Loser!" Grissom announced, "Give me the next item up for bid."

"It's nasty," Bo remarked as he did.

"No. Striation. Whenever two objects are broken, there occurs what we call stria. Two unique connecting points. If I can match the nail in the sneaker to the suspect's toenail clippings...alchatraz!" Grissom cheered as he matched the two toenail clippings.

"The brother was right, wasn't he?" Bo asked excitedly.

"Uh-huh!" Grissom responded just as excitedly.

"Yeah!" Bo cheered as he began doing a victory dance.

"Careful, Bo. Don't hurt your back," Grissom warned.

Welcome, y'all, to the Parlay Hut. YEE HAW! Sorry. Couldn't help myself. Warrick was pulling up to the window to make that bet he promised Judge Culner he would make. Yeah, big mistake, buddy!

"What's up, man?" the worker asked.

"Give me Packers," Warrick requested.

"One second," the worker responded.

"_Warrick, come in._"

"This is Warrick. Come in," Warrick answered the incoming transmission.

"_This is Grissom. We got him._"

"Whoo hoo hoo hoo hoo! Yeah! I'll be right there!" Warrick promised before turning back to the guy in the window.

"What do you want now?" the worker asked.

"Niners for 5 dimes," Warrick replied as he handed the money over.

Back at the house, the man was arrested for the murder of Jimmy. They watched happily and intently as Jimmy was taken away by two uniformed police officers. He took one glance at the two people who caused his arrest as he was taken to the police car that was parked right in front of the driveway of his residence.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_The man was loading his gun listening to Jimmy screaming at him to open the doors._

"_Open the door," he requested._

"_What are you going to do?" his wife asked nervously._

"_Don't ask questions. Just open the door," he demanded._

_With a nod, she opened the door and Jimmy marched right in. That was when he pointed the gun and shot Jimmy three times. He fell to the ground dead. His wife watched in surprise and fear. They heard the sounds of their baby's cries. He turned Jimmy's head and removed one of his shoes before placing it on his own foot. He yelped in pain as a bit of his toenail was chipped off in a painful manner._

"_Call 911," the man instructed his wife, "Do it."_

_He shut the door and turned the locks. Using the foot with Jimmy's shoe on it, he kicked the door down to make it look like a home invasion.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Hey. Weren't you meant to be shadowing Holly?" Grissom suddenly asked Warrick.

"Oh, she's cool. She's doing prints on that 407. There's an officer there," Warrick reassured him as he slid his shades on and walked away, "I'm out."

Back at the crime scene, Holly was minding her own business wiping sweat off her forehead and checking the telephone for fingerprints. That was when an African-American male entered the room behind her.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" he said, causing Holly to bolt upright and turn around so suddenly.

"Hi. Uh, can I help you?" Holly asked.

"I'm a neighbour from across the way. And I just saw a cop car leave. Is everything OK?" he questioned worriedly.

"Yeah. We had a robbery, but everything's fine," Holly reassured him.

"Oh. OK," the man sighed in relief.

Holly flashed him a smile before resuming her work. Since her back was to him, she didn't notice the man reach for his gun tucked in the back of his jeans...

"Are we going to see that man again?" Kady asked Nick as he carried her down the hall.

"Yes we are, butterfly. Here. Why don't you take this?" Nick suggested as he handed her a brown bag.

Mr Leferty answered the knock on his door. Don't worry, kids. He's fully clothed this time! When he did open the door, he saw Nick and Kady standing there. Kady was holding the brown bag for him to take.

"Room service," Nick joked.

"You're kidding me," Mr Leferty laughed in joy as he opened the bag and tipped his keys and wallet onto his hand, "My stuff! You found my stuff!"

"Yeah. Your wallet, your cash, your credit cards," Nick listed as he dug into his pocket and took out a gold band similar to the one he wore on his wedding finger until the death of his wife, "Wedding ring."

"Oh thank God," Mr Leferty sighed in relief as he slid it on his finger.

"OK. Next time you wanna take a shot, take it to the dice table. At least if you crap out, you can go home broke instead of busted," Nick advised, "You know what I mean?"

"I sure do. Thank you," Mr Leferty thanked, "And thank you, you little cutie."

"You're welcome," Kady responded in her cute little voice.

"Your wife is lucky to have a husband and daughter like yourselves," Mr Leferty remarked.

The smiles disappeared off of Nick and Kady's faces as soon as he mentioned Abigail. That was when Mr Leferty realised he had done the wrong thing.

"Oh man. I am so sorry. Bad divorce?" Mr Leferty guessed.

"Actually, she suffered a car accident when she was still expecting Kady. She died not long after she was born," Nick explained sadly.

A little while later...

"Congradulations, Nicky, my boy! You're now a CSI level 3!" Grissom announced as he waved Nick's new caller ID around.

"WHOO!" Nick cheered as everyone in the room applauded, including Warrick.

"Good job, Nick," Warrick complimented.

"Thanks. Hey, Warrick. Listen. I heard about the whole thing with the shoe," Nick started.

"Forget it, man. It's all you," Warrick cut him short as he shook his hand.

"Thanks," Nick thanked.

"You did it, daddy!" Kady cheered.

"I sure did, butterfly," Nick agreed as he scooped Kady in his arms and spun her around, earning giggles from his 3-year-old daughter.

"Come on! Let's get out of here! Breakfast is on me!" Catherine offered.

"Sorry to spoil the party, but I need Grave to pull a double. Holly Gribbs has been shot," Captain Brass announced as he walked in.

"It's gonna be OK, butterfly," Nick murmured as he tried to soothe his already sobbing daughter.

Grissom just stood there looking shocked and worried. Catherine had the same expression. Warrick just sat there looking guilty. Nick just stood there looking shocked. This young woman helped him with his daughter in the short time she was here. Kady bonded with her immediately. And except for the hair and the eyes, Holly was almost a carbon copy of his late wife. He felt like he was losing Abigail all over again. And he didn't think that it was possible.

"She's in surgery now. Apparently, the suspect returned to the scene. They don't think she's going to make it. Brown, I'm putting you on administrative leave pending a full report of your whereabouts. So wash your face and change your socks. You've got a long day ahead of you," Captain Brass warned before walking away.

Nick threw down his new ID badge and resumed comforting his daughter while Holly sighed.

"Daddy, will Holly be OK?" Kady sniffled with tears still streaming.

The sight broke Nick's heart. He hated seeing his daughter cry. Catherine passed him a packet of tissues she happened to have in her pocket. Nick took them greatfully as he took a tissue out and gently dabbed her beautiful hazel eyes.

"I don't know, baby girl," Nick murmured sadly as he took another tissue and held it to her face for her to blow her nose, "I don't know." With a sad sigh, he pulled his daughter even closer to him, praying to God that Holly would make it.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that's it. Next episode will be Cool Change. Pages on Microsoft: 33. Words: 10145<strong>

**BYE AND PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. Cool Change

**Episode: Cool Change.**

**Summary: After the Holly Gribbs shooting, Jim Brass is demoted to homicide and Gil Grissom is made head of the Graveyard shift. Catherine Willows vows to solve Gribbs' murder and is irritated when Grissom brings in Sara Sidle from San Francisco to investigate Warrick Brown's whereabouts the night Holly died. Grissom and Nick Stokes investigate the death of a 40 million dollar slot machine winner, who apparently committed suicide by jumping from a building.**

**Returning characters: George Eads as Nick Stokes, Abigail Breslin (age 3) as Kady Stokes, William Peterson as Gil Grissom, Gary Dourdan as Warrick Brown, Paul Guilfoyle as Captain Jim Brass and Marg Helgenberger as Catherine Willows**

**First appearance of: Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle**

**Last appearance of: Chandra West as Holly Gribbs**

**I own nothing aside from OCs.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Previously on CSI...<strong>_

"_Welcome to Forensics. Gil Grissom; your supervisor on Graveyard," Gil Grissom introduced himself._

"_Holly Gribbs," Holly Gribbs returned._

"_You're the 5__th__ person I've been forced to hire," Jim Brass informed her._

"_That's not fair," Holly complained._

"_And you think putting a juiced-in lieutenant's daughter on a shift is fair?" Brass retorted bluntly._

"_I'm fulfilling her dreams. Not mine," Holly confessed to Catherine Willows after walking away from a liquor store robbery._

"_I can sit here and I can baby you and I can tell you to quit but I'm not gonna do that. At least until you solve your first and after that, if you don't feel like King Kong on cocaine, then you can quit," Catherine promised her._

"_Grissom! Have Warrick shadow Gribbs for the next three weeks or until Nicky makes his 100__th__. Whatever comes first," Brass instructed._

"_PEOPLE WALK EVERDAY BECAUSE OF YOU! EVERYDAY!" Warrick Brown screamed before Grissom dragged him out of Brass' office._

_"Warrick, let's go!" Grissom said, "You had him. But the minute you started thinking about yourself over the case, you lost him!"_

"_You're OK on your own?" Warrick asked._

"_Are you kidding? I'm fired up ready to go! Besides, there's an officer there," Holly stated._

"_I'm sorry, Judge. Captain Brass wouldn't call you for a search warrant. I've got a whopper on the line with a hundred pound test," Warrick explained to Judge Culner._

"_You've got a winner for me?" Judge Culner questioned._

"_Farthe," Warrick nodded._

"_You put $5000 down on the Packers for me, I'll give you a blank warrent," Judge Culner promised him._

"_Congradulations, Nicky, my boy! You're now a CSI Level 3!" Grissom announced as he waved Nick Stokes' new ID around._

"_WHOO!" Nick yelled as everyone in the room applauded him._

"_YOU DID IT, DADDY!" Kady Stokes cheered._

"_I sure did, butterfly," Nick agreed as he twirled his giggling 3-year-old daughter in the air._

"_HOO! HOO! YEAH!" Warrick cheered, "I'll be right there! Niners for 5 dimes."_

"_Weren't you supposed to be shadowing Holly?" Grissom questioned._

"_Oh, she's cool. She's doing prints on that 407. There's an officer there," Warrick reassured him._

"_Excuse me, ma'am."_

"_Holly Gribbs has been shot. They don't think she's going to make it," Brass informed everyone._

"_Is Holly gonna be OK?" Kady sniffled into her father's shirt._

"_I don't know, baby girl. I don't know," Nick sighed as he kissed his daughter's head and continued to comfort her. Because, honestly, he didn't know._

Ah...the sights of Las Vegas. I totally wanna go there...when I'm legal. America's playground! HELLO! And now, we're in one of the many casinos that reside in Las Vegas. And guess what they're filled with. Craps, Russian roulette, Poker, poker machines; anything related to gambling, it's there. There is this one guy who decided to try his luck on the $40 million machine. Well, let me put it this way: he's one unlucky guy...

"Hey, look. 40 million! Can you imagine?" Jamie squealed excitedly.

"Never happen. We have a better chance of going to the moon," Ted sighed as he polished his glasses and slid them back on.

"Oh, give me a 20. Hurry! I just got premonision!" Jamie requested.

"You've got money. Go play," Ted suggested.

"But I left my purse in the room," Jamie moaned.

"I'll play. Wait here," Ted instructed as he approached the machine.

"Is this your slot card?" a woman asked him.

"No," Ted responded.

When the slot card was removed, he gave the machine his $20 and pulled the lever. Wow. That previous guy is NOT the only one who is unlucky...oh. What am I saying? Just wait for it!

"You're little premenision just cost me 20," Ted complained after he pulled the lever for a second time, "Happy now? Here. Watch out! Here come the millions."

He pulled the lever again. You know the saying third time's the charm? Well, that applies here. Because guess what happened. HE BECAME A MILLIONAIRE! That's right, ladies and gentlemen! He's the lucky winner! He just won $40 million! WHOO! Money was flying. People was screaming. The multi-million dollar cheque was handed out.

"$40 million. You'l be having the loft here tonight," the security guard announced as he showed them to their room.

"They gave us the presidential suite. Can you believe it?" Jamie asked as her boyfriend handed the guy the cardboard cheque and tried to open the door. But unfortunately, the key card didn't work.

"Here, Richard Gere. Why don't you let me handle that?" the security guard suggested as he took the key card from him and unlocked the room before opening the door for them.

"Thank you," Ted mumbled before he and his girlfriend walked into the room.

"Wow. Look at the view!" Jamie gushed as she opened the window, "Wow."

"Take a hike. Get lost," Ted suddenly said.

"Excuse me?" Jamie demanded as she turned to face him outraged. I mean, come on. Seriously. What the hell?

"Come on, Jamie. I'm a millionaire now. Now why would I want to waste anymore time with you?" Ted questioned rhetorically.

"ROOM SERVICE!" they heard a voice cry from the other side of the door.

The following day was a pretty eventful day, shall we say? Hey. That rhymed. Anyways, Gil Grissom was arriving at the crime scene which happened to contain the new multi-millionaire. He stepped under the crime scene tape which was lifted up for him whilst talking on his phone.

"Alright. The minute you hear ANYTHING on Holly Gribbs' condition, I want you to page me. Alright? Bye," Grissom said before hanging up and turning his attention to the victim...who happened to be the $40 million winner, "So he pulled a Lugainus, huh?"

"Yeah. 150 feet. The giga-millions curse strikes again. The past four winners ended up dead or missing. What do you think, Grissom? Its conspirousy!" the guy remarked.

"Coincidence. I worked those four cases. There's never evidence of foul play," Grissom retorted, "Was he in town with anybody?"

"His girlfriend. She's upstairs in police custody. Do you wanna talk to her?" he asked.

"Not yet. Right now, I wanna talk to him," Grissom remarked as he knelt near him.

"How do you talk to a dead body?" the guy wanted to know.

"I let him talk to me, actually. In fact, he just spoke. Didn't you hear him?" Grissom rhetorically asked as he held up the broken pair of glasses, "He just told me he didn't commit suicide."

"You lost me," the guy confessed.

"This guy fell to his death wearing perscription eye glasses. Jumpers take their glasses off. Suicide is the ultimate form of selfishness to tell you the truth. It's unlikely that anyone cowardly enough to take his own life would be brave enough to watch his own death," Grissom explained as he examined said glasses.

"You can tell all that just by looking at his eye glasses?" he asked in disbelief.

"You have no idea," he responded.

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Jorja Fox  
>Gary Dourdan<br>George Eads  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

Back at the lab, Grissom walked down the hallway anxious to get a good start on the case. But soon there would be a slight distraction. A distraction in the form of some shocking news.

"Messages?" Grissom asked the receptionist.

"Mmm-hmm," she nodded as she handed them over.

He took out his glasses and went through them all. As he walked down the hallway, everyone was staring at him. That was when he realised something was indeed going on arond here. Suspicions were confirmed when he walked into the office and saw Captain Brass packing his office belongings. OK. What in the world is going on here? Was there something we missed? Well, we're about to find out now...

"I just got off the phone with the sherif. He says he wants me to run the unit," Grissom announced.

"You're the boss," Brass agreed with a smile, "I can't say I didn't do it to myself."

"Where are they gonna place you?" Grissom demanded.

"Homicide. You believe that?" Brass laughed, "Instead of moving up, I'm moving back in the time capsule. It's like its 1979 again. So I guess this might put you and me at odds."

"Cop versus scientist. Interesting, huh?" Grissom remarked.

"Yeah," Brass nodded before walking out with his belongings in a cardboard box.

"You got any advice for me?" Grissom asked.

"Yeah. Cover your ass and hide," Brass suggested, "They're all yours, pal."

"_Tragedy struck early this morning when an on-duty Las Vegas Criminalist was brutally gunned down. It was her first night on the job. The victim, Holly Gribbs, was investigating a robbery homicide in an apartment on the corner of MLK and Warm Springs. The Crime Lab now faces the daunting task of investigating the shooting of one of their own. The wounded CSI has been taken to Desert Palm where she is listed in critical condition. The suspect is still at large._"

That was all that Nick Stokes, Catherine Willows and Warrick Brown could watch in the break room of their crime lab. When they heard that the suspect was still at large, Nick and Catherine turned to face Warrick who just continued to sit there looking guilty. Kady Stokes had her eyes closed and was comfortably nestled against her father's chest. She was sleeping. But she's been having nightmares about Holly's shooting. So Nick couldn't bear to leave his baby alone. Whenever she was asleep, he ready to soothe her nightmares away before she could wake up screaming.

"Weren't you supposed to be shadowing Holly?" Catherine demanded.

"Warrick, man, what happened?" Nick questioned.

"I left her to hook up with Grissom on that toenail case. And then I came back here," Warrick explained.

"You left her by herself?" Catherine gasped.

"It was supposed to be an easy print job! Look, I feel bad enough. OK? I mean, it's my fault one of our own is fighting for her life. It's my fault my goddaughter's having nightmares. I don't need this crap!" Warrick snapped.

"Shhh. I'm here, baby. It's alright, butterfly. It's just a dream," Nick whispered soothingly to his whimpering daughter as Grissom walked in.

"Here's what we know. Brass assigned Warrick to shadow Holly. He left her at the scene. The suspect returned. And Holly was shot. The sherif phoned me earlier this morning. Brass has been moved back to Homicide," Grissom announced as he fixed himself a cup of coffee.

"Who's gonna run the unit?" Nick asked as he gently rocked his sleeping daughter on his hip.

"For now, me," Grissom answered, "I know. We'll just play it by ear, OK? Alright. Last night, a jackpot winner took a swan dive off the Hotel Monaco about the time Holly was shot. I'm going to work the lead here. Nick?"

"Yes, sir," Nick responded as he approached his new boss.

"You work the Holly case," Grissom said as he handed him the sheet of paper with all the details.

"Wait a minute. You can't give him the Holly case. With all due respect, Nick, I want this one," Catherine butted in.

"Nick's the only one who didn't have any personal contact with Holly. I don't want you on this, Catherine," Grissom told her.

"Why?" Catherine asked.

"Because you're emotionally involved," Grissom reminded her.

"Yeah. She was gonna walk. I convinced her to stay. If anyone's to blame, it's me. And I want this case," Catherine practically sobbed as she snatched the paper from Nick's hand, being mindful of the sleeping child in his arms.

"Besides, I had a personal connection with her too. She kept an eye on Kady when I ran evidence on the trick roll before she went out to handle the robbery. The two of them really bonded," Nick corrected.

"Fire me," Catherine challenged.

"I'm not firing anybody! Look. I know we're pulling a double. We're on edge because of Holly. I just want everyone to stay calm and to do their jobs for the next 10 hours. And as of now, we're short of help. So I'm bringing in Sara Sidle to give us a hand," Grissom announced.

"Sara Sidle?" Catherine repeated in disbelief.

"Who's that?" Warrick asked.

"She's a CSI out of San Francisco. She's a friend of mine; someone I trust. She's gonna handle our internal investigation. I wanna keep this in-house. I don't want IA involved," Grissom explained.

"Great. That's just what we need. Somebody sniffing around," Catherine remarked sarcastically before storming out briskly.

"Nicky, you can back me up with the DB at the Monaco," Grissom said.

"You got it," Nick nodded as he read the details.

"How's Kady?" Grissom questioned worriedly as he placed a comforting hand on the child's back and rubbing gently.

"She's still having nightmares," Nick sighed as he moved some hair from her eyes and kissed her head gently.

"That's it," Grissom said.

"Feeling any better?" Nick asked worriedly as Kady began waking up.

"A little bit. Still tired," Kady mumbled tiredly as she yawned and rubbed her hazel eyes.

"Come on. Let's get some sleep in my office," Nick whispered as he walked out of the room.

"That's it? What about me?" Warrick demanded in disbelief.

"You're on leave. You get some personal time," Grissom suggested.

"I don't want any personal time. I wanna help. You're the boss now. You can reinstate me," Warrick stated.

"Go home, Warrick. Get your story straight before Sara gets here," Grissom instructed before walking out.

Ah, this is the last place someone would want to be at: the place where one of their own was gunned down. That's how Catherine felt the moment she walked in with her bags ready to go. Sure. She only spoke to Holly once. And that was to talk her out of quitting her job first night in. But she started seeing that young woman like her daughter. And she has a daughter of her own as well as a goddaughter. **(AN: Just to clear some things up. When Kady was born, Nick named the entire gang as Kady's godparents as per the arrangements he made with Abigail before she died. And when he became close friends with Sara, he changed the will so it would list her as Kady's godmother as well. In other words, Catherine and Sara are her godmothers and Grissom, Greg and Brass are her godfathers. Warrick was her godfather until his death.)**

"A little late for the brigade," Catherine remarked as she stepped inside.

"What do you think happened here?" an officer asked her.

"First blush," Catherine sighed.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_DON'T MOVE!" the man ordered her as he pointed his gun at her._

_Holly just gasped and raised her hands in self-defense before reassuring him, "It's OK. I'm not a cop.I just...I just analyze the scene."_

_The guy didn't care. She was associated with the LVPD. That was bad for him. She could put him behind bars for the best part of his life. She WILL put him behind bars for the best part of his life. He still shot her to the ground nonetheless. He grabbed the telephone and ran out of there. Holly just laid there gasping for breath as she felt herself slip away. The pain was unbearable. She just wanted all this to stop. Eventually, she closed her eyes and let out her final breath.  
><em>_End flashback_

"This is Holly's gun," Catherine stated as she held up a gun she found on the floor and emptying the slide to check the amount of rounds that are inside, "She shot back."

Suddenly, she heard beeping. It was two rapid beeps before silence. Then the two rapid beeps were heard again. Curious, Catherine followed the sound. She looked underneath the table and found the source: a pager. This one was similar to the one the CSIs had. Yet it was not the same. She held it up and read the big words on the small screen: LOW BATTERY.

"He's all riggered up. Now pull it like a slot machine," a woman instructed Nick and Grissom, "It's been three weeks since my last jumper. At least this one died a millionaire."

"Geez. These look like defensive wounds, maybe," Grissom pointed out as he removed the and-aid on his arm and examined the now uncovered wounds.

"Someone came after this guy with something pretty sharp," Nick remarked.

"You have any idea what it might be?" Grissom asked.

"Glass, maybe. We found tiny shards on the insizer. Take a look," the woman responded as she removed some glass from the wound.

"Not just glass. Black glass," Grissom retorted.

Back to the Monaco Hotel we go... Grissom and Nick are now in the presidential suite in the hotel. And, as always, Nick had Kady with her. But this time, she was wide awake and back to her bouncy self. Nick knew this wouldn't last long deep down. Eventually, she would wear herself out and she would succomb to a restless sleep once more which would cause Nick to go on high alert for when she starts having those nightmares again.

"Broken glass," Nick observed.

"Blood drops leading to bloody towels. No effort to hide," Grissom pointed out.

"What's that?" Kady asked as she went to touch something.

"Careful, honey," Nick immediately said as he pulled his daughter to his chest single-handedly and picked up what Kady was trying to touch, "Hey. Defensive wounds."

"Champagne bottle. Black glass. I missed that," Grissom confessed.

"What do you think about this?" Nick asked.

"You're a CSI 3 now," Grissom reminded him, "You call it."

"What? You want me to play it blind?" Nick asked in disbelief.

"You've read the woman's statement. The room is full of evidentry clues. Talk it out," Grissom instructed as he took Kady from his arms and sat on the arm of the lounge with his goddaughter in his lap, "What does the room say?"

"OK. You up for storytime, butterfly?" Nick asked in a baby voice as he tickled his daughter's stomach, earning her eager nods and giggles in response, "According to the girlfriend's statement, they were on the balcony when they had a lover's quarrel."

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Come on, Jamie. I'm a millionaire now. Why would I waste anymore time with you?" Ted demanded her.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Room service," Nick went on.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Thank you," Ted thanked._

"_You're welcome," the staffmember responded before walking away._

"_So what was I this whole time, huh? Just someone to bang?" Jamie demanded._

"_Yeah," Ted replied without hesitation. Ooh... He's dead._

"_WHAT?" Jamie screamed as she broke the campagne bottle and began beating him with it._

"_Crazy bitch," Ted grumbled as he helt some towels to the cut on his wrist.  
><em>_End flashback_

"And then what happened?" Grissom asked Jamie in the interrogation room at the police department.

"He took off. I cut him up pretty good. He probably went to the lobby to fetch some first aid," Jamie sighed.

"And he never came back to the room," Grissom assumed.

"Nope," Jamie agreed.

"You're sure?" Grissom questioned, "The Presidential Suite at the Monaco is a secured room. They keep a log everytime someone enters the room with a card key."

"They keep a record. Check it for yourself," Jamie suggested, "Why are you bothering me?"

"Nicky, what does the log say?" Grissom asked nervously.

"Well, she's right. The only entry I see here is when hotel security checked them in," Nick read.

"Can I go now?" Jamie demanded.

"Yes, ma'am," Grissom nodded, causing Jamie to leave after Nick opened the door for her, "Her story checks out. She doesn't have any financial motive. She was his girlfriend; not his wife. Any money won by the deceased goes directly to the family estate."

"Well, if he didn't fall from his balcony, where else could it have happened?" Nick questioned.

"The roof," Grissom stated.

"Yeah. Emergency room please," Warrick requested into his cell phone, "Patient's name is Holly Gribbs. Thanks. *answers new call* Warrick here."

"_Warrick. Judge Culner._ You bet on the wrong team, you idiot. I said Packers. I got 49rs for 5 grand. _The Spot in 15 minutes._"

Here we are again. Back at the Monaco Hotel. Only this time, we're not in the Presidential Suite. Now, we're on the roof. Oh, this is gonna be awesome!

"This is so cool!" Kady squealed as she ran around the roof.

"Be careful, Kadelin!" Nick warned as he prepared the dummies.

"OK. I think we're ready for Operation Norman," Grissom announced before turning to Nick as he stood up and tried to dust himself off, "You'll never get that off. Its Myers roof dust. All the hotels use it now. It diverts the sun's rays. Keeps the utility bills down in the summer."

"How do you know all this crap?" Nick demanded as he glanced over the edge at the ground ready to welcome him below.

"It's our job to know stuff," was Grissom's smart response.

"Hang on a minute," Nick smirked as he walked up to his daughter, "Watch out, princess. Because the Daddy Monster's gonna get ya!" Nick growled playfully as he picked up his daughter and spun her around.

"Daddy!" Kady giggled excitedly.

"Wanna help me throw these dummies off the roof?" Nick asked.

"Yeah!" Kady agreed eagerly.

"Alright, Nick. Standing by for Operation Norman. Let them fly," Grissom instructed.

"You ready, butterfly?" Nick asked his daughter, earning her nod in response, "I thought so. Alright. One. Two. Three. GO!"

There goes the first dummy. Nick and Kady threw it off the roof. The spectators gasped, clapped and cheered as the first dummy hit the ground. But wait, my friends. There's more of these to come. And there goes the second one. Same result. Here comes the final one. Same result.

"Yes, yes," Grissom laughed as he approached each one of them and took photos, "Norman pushed. Norman jumped. Norman fell."

"Wouldn't you if you were married to Mrs Rophert?" a voice remarked behind him.

"I don't even have to turn around. Sara Sidle," Grissom smiled as he turned around to the brunette standing behind him removing her sunglasses.

"It's me. Still tossing simulation dummies. There are other ways to tell, you know," Sara stated.

"Ah. Computer simulation? No thank you. I'm a scientist. I like to see it. Newton dropped the apple. I drop dummies," Grissom retorted.

"You're old-school," Sara pointed out.

"Exactly," Grissom agreed, "And this guy was pushed."

"How's the girl?" Sara asked.

"She's in surgery. She's not doing very well," Grissom responded sadly.

"That's too bad," Sara commented.

"God, Sara. I still have so many unanswered whys," Grissom sighed.

"There's only one why that matters now. Why did Warrick Brown leave that scene?" Sara questioned rhetorically.

Ah, night has finally descended on Las Vegas. Wait. I'm wrong. It's just Warrick in the underground parking lot. A car pulled up in front of him. And guess who occupied it. Yep. Judge Culner himself.

"What are you? Dyslexic? You owe me 10 grand, buddy," Judge Culner announced as he showed him the ticket.

"All I've got is four," Warrick sighed as he handed the ticket back to the 'honourable' judge.

"So what are you breathing here for? Get out there and get my money," Judge Culner demanded.

"Hey. Look. A girl was shot on my watch because I was doing your thing!" Warrick retorted.

"But you came to me!" Judge Culner reminded him.

"Alright, judge. I'll get your money. But I need more time. I need a day," Warrick told him.

"You've got an hour," Judge Culner corrected before driving away.

"Do you know where I can find Catherine Willows?" Sara asked as she walked into a room.

"She's out in the field," Catherine responded coldly before turning to face her, "Let me guess. Sara Sidle?"

"I know who I am. I think you're a little confused," Sara joked.

"If you think you're taking my case, forget it," Catherine said in a hostile manner.

Sara didn't even respond to the cold reception. She just closed the door and faced her. Was she trying to take Catherine's case? No. Was she scared of her at the moment? Hell yeah!

"Look. We can stand here and argue or we can get out there and find out who did this to Holly Gribbs. Two sharp women are better than one," Sara remarked.

"Pager found at the crime scene," Catherine showed before placing it in the pager nest.

"Where did you get the pager nest?" Sara asked excitedly as she approached Catherine.

"Grissom. He won it on eBay," Catherine explained.

"They're great for tracing if you can't rely on the suspect's eyes," Sara gushed.

"Uh...Desmond22," Catherine sighed.

"See what I mean. Don't feel so bad. My last four traces came back Eminem," Sara laughed, "Look. You seem to have everything under control here. Where can I find Warrick Brown?"

"Try one of the casinos on Blue Diamond Road," Catherine suggested as she examined the pager, "Oh, I'll page you with any new information."

Sara just laughed quietly and left Catherine alone. As soon as the door was shut, Catherine placed the pager on her laptop and slumped in frustration. NOW night has descended on Las Vegas. Grissom, Nick and Kady were back in the Hotel Monaco. But this time, they weren't in the Presidential Suite or on the roof. They were in the survelance room where security could see everything that happens at the gambling tables and machines. Kady was asleep again. But her nightmares didn't happen as often. And Nick was relieved about it as it meant she's easing.

"There's our jumper," Grissom stated.

"So you want to everything one minute before and one minute after he won the jackpot, right?" the security officer asked Grissom.

"Please," Grissom nodded as they watched the video, "Wait a minute. Go back. There. It looks like she's offering him his slot redemption card back. Could I see the person who was sitting at this machine right before the victim?"

"Sure," the security officer responded as he rewinded the tape.

"Is there any way of telling how long he's been there?" Grissom questioned.

The guy fast-forwarded the tape and stopped when he saw the guy was about to leave.

"11 hours, 13 minutes, 15 seconds," he read, "3 bucks a tug. Could have gone through 10, 20 thou."

"Nick, call the slot host. Get this guy's name from the slot card," Grissom requested, "I wanna talk to this man."

"Alright. Can you take Kady for a minute?" Nick asked as he passed his sleeping daughter to his boss.

"This is one of the busiest rooms in this hotel. How does she sleep through all this?" the security guard asked in disbelief with a smile.

"God only knows," Nick and Grissom laughed as Nick made the call.

"Here you go. Holly's weapon's already loaded. So just point your gun into there to do your test firing," Bobby instructed Catherine as she walked to a machine with headphones on her head.

"Alright. Thanks, Bobby," Catherine thanked as she pointed the gun into her machine and fired away.

All she needed was one shot. As soon as the bullet hit the water inside, the ends were split. Literally.

"OK. Now, if we're to eliminate Holly's gun as a possible weapon, we start by looking for imperfections in the bullet's striations," Bobby explained to Catherine as he examined the striations through the microscope, but to his surprise..., "Now that's odd."

"What's wrong?" Catherine demanded worriedly.

"We don't have an elimination. We got a match," Bobby announced.

Catherine didn't believe him. So she looked for herself. When she did, she realised he was right. The striations were a match. Even if the evidence was right, she still couldn't believe it. She was taken down by her own gun. Now that is just sad.

"Shot her with her own gun," Catherine sighed sadly.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_It's OK. I'm not a cop. I just...I just analyze the scene," Holly explained with her gloved hands up._

"_THROW THE GUN DOWN!" the man instructed as he pointed his own gun at her. When Holly threw her gun to the ground, he continued issuing commands, "Right. Now yank the phone out of the wall. I'm taking my prints with me."_

_As Holly went to disconnect the telephone from the wall, the suspect's pager went off in alarm. When he went down to check it, Holly attacked him with the phone. And a struggle ensued. When he shoved Holly off of him, he grabbed the nearest weapon – which happened to be her gun – and fired at her multiple times. She screamed in pain each time. He then threw the gun down and walked away. Moments later, she closed her eyes and let out her last breath.  
><em>_End flashback_

"I pulled the slot card for you. That's the gentleman right over there," a hostess informed Grissom.

"Thank you," Grissom nodded before stopping Nick at the door, "I think I'll play a little. *approaches machine* Ha! Jacks are better! You're under arrest."

"Oh yeah. What for?" Mr Carlton demanded.

"First degree murder," Grissom announced.

"Oh. On what grounds?" Mr Carlton asked smugly.

"Roof dust," Grissom responded as he referred to the dust covering the bottom of his beige pants.

"Sir, can you come with us?" a staffmember requested as he guided the man away.

"Nicky, my boy, collect my winnings. It's a CSI 3 initiation," Grissom said to him before walking away, "Where's Kadelin?"

"Hostess has her," Nick explained shortly.

"I thought you didn't like leaving her alone with total strangers," Grissom recalled.

"I don't. But I figured it would be OK if it was for 10 seconds," Nick retorted, causing Grissom to race to his three-year-old goddaughter like there was no tomorrow.

Ah, it's the dawn of a new day in Las Vegas, Nevada. Warrick was at one of the casinos on Blue Diamond Road gambling just like Catherine told Sara he would be.

"You're up 11 Gs. Hit or stay?" the host asked him.

"Stay. I want to talk to you," Sara told him as she appeared behind him before they ended up the local diner having a cup of coffee, "You're playing a hundred on every spot. You have a system?"

"Counting cards," Warrick responded.

"Isn't that illegal?" Sara questioned.

"Not if you do the math in your head," Warrick retorted.

"You play anything else?" Sara asked.

"I bet sports from time to time," Warrick answered, "And I sometimes play with my three-year-old goddaughter."

"So let me get this straight. You were assigned by Brass to shadow a trainee. A robbery comes up on MLK and you go for coffee," Sara summised as she dug through her bag for pen and paper.

"An officer was there," Warrick defended.

"So you felt safe to leave," Sara assumed, "Do you know the policies and procedures for clearing a scene?"

"Yes," Warrick nodded.

"Then why did you leave? I mean, what was so important you had to rush out of there?" Sara demanded.

"I told you. I went for coffee," Warrick lied.

"Was that before or after you made your bets?" Sara retorted, "Sunday. Vegas. NFL. Football. A guy like you. Come on. You're trying to tell me you didn't make a little pit stop? ...Look at me. Did you log on? Tell dispatch where you're going?"

"Do you know how many times I've been left alone at a crime scene when I was a rookie?" Warrick snapped.

"Yeah. Well, this time, it's different," Sara threw back.

"Why's that?" Warrick asked.

"Holly Gribbs died on the operating table 20 minutes ago," Sara announced.

That took Warrick by surprise. He definitely wasn't expecting that. It made him feel even gultier about abandoning Holly at the crime scene. Especially now that she's dead. The news affect everyone.

Catherine was just standing in the evidence locker sighing sadly ready to cry. She was blaming himself. After all, she was the one who talked Holly out of quitting her new job first night in. She felt that she deserved at least part of the blame for Holly's death.

Brass was just standing there rocking his chair back and forth. He felt bad for the way he treated her when she first came in. He shouldn't have judged her before seeing her in action. He couldn't help but wonder how her mother was feeling about her daughter's sudden death.

Nick was splashing cold water on his face and wiping his eyes. Obviously, he's been crying. Not again, he couldn't help but think. A lot of the women he got close to ended up hurt or killed. He fell in love with Abigail. She died giving birth to their daughter. He let Holly bond with his baby. She ends up gunned to death. He turned to his 3-year-old daughter and just looked at her.

"Daddy, is Holly an angel now?" Kady whimpered.

"I'm afraid so, baby," Nick sighed sadly as he held his sobbing daughter close, "Shh. It's OK, Kady. Shh. I'm here, butterfly. I'm here. It's gonna be OK. I promise."

Grissom was at the hospital watching Holly's mother getting consoled by either her husband or Holly's doctor. He was in shock as well. He was meant to watch over her. Be her mentor. Protect her. And yet he let her run off and get herself killed first night in. He felt like he was at fault as well.

"Mind if I get a soda?" Sara asked Catherine as she walked into the break room.

"Oh. Yeah. I'm sorry," Catherine apologised as she stepped aside.

"You want one?" Sara offered.

"Is there anything in there with alcohol?" Catherine responded.

"Root beer," Sara replied.

"Nah," Catherine denied before the pager recovered from Holly's crime scene went off, "Oh. God."

Immediately, Catherine grabbed the phone and dialled the number on the tiny screen of the pager.

"What are you going to say?" Sara demanded, "Hi. I'm a Criminalist. I was in the neighbourhood-."

"Shh! It's ringing!" Catherine cut her short.

"Hello?" the shooter answered the incoming call.

"_Uh, hey._"

"_Who's this? I just dialled my own damn beeper._"

"Uh-uh. It's my beeper for now. I found it," Catherine announced.

"It ain't your beeper, bro. _It's mine. I do a lot of business on that beeper._"

"What kind of business?" Catherine asked curiously.

"_You know_, just getting a little something-something," the shooter responded.

"Ah, a little something-something. Maybe a little bling-bling?" Catherine guessed.

"_Ah, so what you know about some bling-bling?_"

"Invite me over to your crib, baby, and you might find out," Catherine challenged.

"It's on. Three Aces Motel. Room 202," the shooter told her.

"Three Aces Motel. Room 202. See you soon," Catherine promised before hanging up, "Did I just do that?"

"What's a bling-bling?" Sara couldn't help but ask.

"Got me," Catherine responded.

"Yeah. I was up on that roof. I didn't push him off. I did talk to him though," Mr Carlton confessed.

"We know. Hey. What did you drink? Tuning Tonic or Wayroad Sours?" Nick questioned. **(AN: Made up. Had no idea what Nick was saying.)**

"I went with the sours. How did you know that?" Mr Carlton demanded defensively.

"We've got a record of the victim's room charges," Nick explained.

"At 1:27am, our victim, Ted Sallinger, made a couple of purchases in the gift shop: band-aids and antisphetic. At 1:40am, we tracked a purchase at the La Premanage: a $30 000 designer watch. At 1:45am, you both started knocking them back in the hotel bar," Grissom read.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Hey. You won my money," Mr Carlton told him._

"_What?" was all Ted said._

"_That was my machine. I put everything I had into that machine!" Mr Carltion explained to him._

"_So you're degenerate. What do you want from me?" Ted asked impatiently before stopping Mr Carlton from leaving, "Eltub. Come on. Have a seat. I'll get you a drink for second place. What are you having? It's on me."_

"_It's on you. Alright. In that case, I'll have a Wayward Sours," Mr Carlton requested as he took a seat.  
><em>_End flashback_

"The first hour, you drink tit for tat. But by hour two, Ted started ordering doubles," Nick recalled.

"By then, you stopped drinking. Ordered decaf coffee instead. My guess is that you were getting him lathered up with a little elevator ride," Grissom added.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Have a nice life, huh? I know I will," Ted laughed before going down the hallway towards his room.  
><em>_End flashback_

"And from there, you went to the roof," Grissom told him.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Now we see Mr Carlton standing on the ledge on the rooftop at the Hotel Monaco. Yes. He was considering the easy way out: suicide. But all he did was stand there and stare at the ground waiting below. He slid off his glasses and started sobbing.  
><em>_End flashback_

"I couldn't go through with it. I'm a born failure. I failed out of my marriage. I failed out of my work. Hell. I couldn't even commit suicide right," Mr Carlton moaned, "One pull away. Story of my life."

"Mr Carlton, we're not detectives. We're crime scene analysts. We're trained to ignore verbal accounts and rely on the evidence the scene sets before us. But I have to be honest with you, Red. I believe you. I do," Grissom reassured him, "So, here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna stay here until we get back. If you pushed this guy off the roof, he will, without a doubt, have roof dust on his shoes. If he does, we will have you arrested for murder. But if dust is not present, then you'll be free to go."

After a moment of silence, Mr Carlton couldn't help but say, "I like this guy," causing Nick to smile and laugh quietly.

Ah, yes, ladies and gentlement. The moment is finally here! Catherine and Brass have arrived at the Three Aces Motel ready to arrest the person who shot Holly to death at a crime scene. While Catherine, Sara and a uniformed officer were waiting in the staircase ready to go, Brass went right past them with his gun drawn.

"What are you doing here?" Catherine demanded.

"Field therapy," Brass responded quickly before they all surrounded room 202 and he kicked on the door twice, "Police officers! Open up!"

They didn't even bother waiting for a response. A uniformed officer kicked the door down and immediately went after the suspect who was trying to escape through the window. Two words: bad idea. They dragged him away from the window.

"Get him down! GET HIM DOWN RIGHT NOW! GET HIM DOWN!" Brass demanded as they pushed him to the bed to handcuff him and Catherine walked in.

"Now that's a bling-bling," Catherine remarked.

"That was you on the phone?" the guy said in disbelief.

"Yep," Catherine nodded as Brass and a uniformed officer pulled him up and dragged him away, "Where did you get that scratch?"

"For a conviction, we're gonna need a DNA sample," Sara piped in.

"We're gonna sit him down. Let's get a saliva sample," Brass said as they pushed him onto a chair.

"Hey, guys. It's Catherine. For whoever's listening, _we got him. Repeat: Holly Gribbs suspect is in custody._"

That certainly made Warrick happy on the inside. They finally caught the person who shot Holly. They finally caught the person that has put them all on edge. They finally caught the person who plagued the nightmares on his three-year-old goddaughter. Unfortunately, he had a pressing matter to attend to. He turned off his radio and headed towards Judge Culner.

"$10 000. See you around, judge," Warrick bidded him as he went to walk away.

"You don't leave until I tell you to leave," Judge Culner told him suddenly, causing Warrick to turn around suddenly.

"What? What are you gonna do? Leave me in contempt?" Warrick asked in disbelief.

"You're already in contempt with me. We're in bet, pal. I own you," Judge Culner announced.

"Nobody owns me," Warrick corrected.

"Oh yeah? Let me tell you something. You ever heard of a wolf in sheep's clothing? You and me; we're gonna do business together whether you like it or not. Keep your cell phone charged," Judge Culner warned before opening his car door, "And if you don't obey my every commands, I'll make sure you're three-year-old goddaughter grows up far away from her family."

"What do you mean?" Warrick demanded angrily.

"I'm a judge, Brown. I just say the word and sweet little Kadelin will no longer be with her daddy. And I will make sure no one in his family, her late mother's family or any of her godparents ever get custody of her. And you know what that means: the rest of her childhood going from one foster home to another. And I'll make sure she gets the worse homes imaginable. So if you want to secure a happy future for Kadelin, you do my bidding," Judge Culner told him simply.

"You do anything to that little girl, I swear to God," Warrick growled.

"Remember, Warrick. Do my bidding or she ends up in the system. Your choice," Judge Culner taunted before driving away.

"HEY! NO ONE THREATENS MY GODDAUGHTER AND GETS AWAY WITH IT! YOU HEAR ME? NO ONE! NOT AS LONG AS HER FATHER AND I ARE BREATHING!" Warrick called after him.

Meanwhile, Grisson is standing outside of the hospital morgue waiting for Catherine to collect DNA from Holly's fingernails. At long last, she arrived. Sara stood near the balcony. Catherine just walked up to him briskly with her stuff ready to do her thing.

"You didn't have to," Catherine told him.

"I know. But I wanted to. In case you need me," Grissom responded.

"I probably do. But this is something I'd rather do alone," Catherine told him.

"15 seconds. You're in, you're out. We make a DNA match. It's over," Grissom reassured her, "OK?"

"OK," Catherine nodded before she walked in.

Once she was inside, she opened Holly's door and pulled the tray out after a moment contemplating. She unzipped her bag and removed the flap. Immediately, she was greeted by her pale naked body with her eyes closed as if she was sleeping like Sleeping Beauty. Oh, if only that were the case. Without wasting a moment, she took out a swab and an evidence bag. She grabbed Holly's hand and swabbed the underside of her fingernails before sliding the swab into its little bag. When she was done, she couldn't help but gaze at Holly's body before closing the bag.

"I'm sorry," she whispered sadly.

Now Grissom and Nick were working some evidence on Ted Sallinger's case. They were in the evidence room with only the big light above the table on. On the couch nearby, Kady was dressed in her little purple, green, gold and pink butterfly nightgown with her plush butterfly toy curled up underneath a blanket and her daddy's jacket fast asleep. She's doing much better now that all the whole thing with Holly's shooting was over. Nick only had to stop and soothe her once.

"Will the real Red Scarlton please stand up?" Nick joked as Grissom pulled Ted's shoes from the evidence bag.

"You're too young to remember who Red Scarlton was," Grissom retorted.

"Hey! Rock a night. You should check it out," Nick suggested as they began examining the shoes.

"How do you even have a social life with the amount of work you have to do and being a single father to a three-year-old?" Grissom couldn't help but ask.

"Kady and Lindsay have become pretty good friends over the years. So one night a week, we let them have a sleepover at one of our houses alternating each week so they can hang out together and one of us can go out and have a social life," Nick explained as he glanced at his sleeping daughter and watched Grissom remove the cloth from the sole of Ted's shoe, "No dust. Great."

"I thought so. It turns out he's red herring," Grissom quipped as Nick put the shoes away, "There must be something else. *begins examining watch* Nice watch. Look at this. These look like fibres."

"Do you think he was dragged?" Nick asked.

"Maybe," Grissom replied.

"I'll go back to the presidential suite. Get a swatch of the carpet. See if we can match the fibres," Nick announced.

"Get a hold of the girl while you're at it," Grissom instructed.

"Why? Is she a suspect?" Nick questioned.

"Now," Grissom agreed.

With a nod, Nick went to do so. But not without glancing at Kady. Smiling, he bent over and brushed some of her cute honey brown curls from her face. Quickly, he kissed her cheek in a fatherly manner and pulled the blanket and his jacket higher over her tiny frame. He couldn't help but flash a proud smile, which is something Grissom didn't fail to notice.

"How did I get so lucky?" Nick whispered to himself.

"I think you are the one who's lucky, Nick. A child like little Kadelin here is one in a million. Treasure her well. Like a delicate butterfly. Because with our line of work, one day you could be here playing with her and protecting her from boys. The next, you'll be sitting on a cloud watching over her," Grissom remarked.

"Don't remind me," Nick pleaded.

"Hey. Go do your job. I'll watch over her," Grissom promised.

"Thanks, man," Nick thanked before walking out.

"What do you have?" Grissom asked as he walked in carrying his sleeping goddaughter.

"Hey. I thought you might like to see this," she remarked as she showed him her discovery and smiling at Kady.

"What the hell is that?" Grissom exclaimed quietly so he didn't disturb Kady.

"I found it after I shaved his head. Something hard with a diamond insignia on the back. You find that, I bet you'll find your killer," the coroner explained in concern about the odd mark.

"Was this first blow?" Grissom questioned.

"First and fatal," she nodded, "Crushed his skull."

"So he was killed then he was pushed," Grissom summised.

"Without a doubt," she agreed before walking away.

"Nicorete?" Sara offered Catherine.

"No thanks. Got my own," Catherine kindly declined.

"Willows. Your DNA results are back," Greg announced.

That caused Catherine to race inside the DNA Lab like there was no tommorow for her. Once she was inside, Greg looked at the results.

"Well, according to my DNA data...types are 814 quadrillion to one. Your suspect is our killer," Greg read.

"We got stats!" Sara cheered.

"Considering there's only about six billion people in the world! Thanks," Catherine thanked as she took the results and read them for herself, "She gave me just enough; just enough to catch him."

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_DON'T MOVE!" the man screamed as he pointed his gun at her._

"_It's OK. It's OK. I'm not a cop. I just...I just analyze the scene. It's my first day. Believe me. I am no threat," Holly told him as she held her hands up, "Look. The phone with your prints on it. Here. Take it. Here. OK?"_

_Suddenly, the guy's beeper started going off. Taking her chance, Holly threw the phone at him. That was when the struggle ensued. He pinned her to the ground and took her gun from her holster._

"_She held on long enough to give us a clue.__"_

_Holly scratched his cheek with her fingernails. Screaming in pain, the guy got off her and shot her repeatedly. Grunting and gasping in pain as the guy ran away, Holly shoved the gun from her path and tried to reach the phone to call for help. But she couldn't reach it. It was too far. Eventually, she just gave up and laid there waiting for help to come. Waiting to die. Whatever came first. Sadly for her, death claimed her before someone could show up.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Nice work, Catherine," Sara complimented.

Back in his office, Nick took a sample from the carpet in the Presidential Suite and placed it under the microscope. He looked through the scope and adjusted the magnification. When he found his result, he looked up. And it was more than because he just found the result. He felt something tug on his pant leg. Smiling, he looked down and saw his daughter in a blue dress and white sandals looking adorable like always with a bag in her lap.

"Hey, butterfly," Nick smiled as he pulled his daughter into his lap, "Is this for me?"

"Yep," Kady nodded.

"Thanks, baby girl," Nick thanked as he kissed her on the cheek, "You wanna take a look?"

"Yeah!" Kady responded eagerly.

Smiling, Nick hoisted his daughter high enough for her to see. Basically, she was standing on his lap. **(Jason: I feel so nervous for him right now. Me: Oh. Why's that? Jason: What if she stumbled or something and accidentally stepped on his...? *whistles and makes gestures* Me: You have a point there. But she's always careful. That only happened once. Everyone found it hilarious.)**

"They look the same," Kady stated.

"They are the same," Nick agreed, "What do you think, Kady? You wanna be a CSI when you're older?"

"Only on weekdays," Kady responded cutely, "On weekends, I wanna be a singer."

"And you'll be a good one of that because you have the most beautiful voice in the world," Nick complimented as he stood up with her in his arms and twirled her around.

"Nice swatch, Nick. Pizza box size," Grissom remarked as he stepped inside the Presidential Suite and noticed the square hole in the fancy-schmancy carpet.

Slowly and carefully, he tread around the hotel until he found something: a bell-like sort of thing. But it wasn't a bell. And...guess what it has: a diamond insignia. We got our murder weapon! WHOO! Now we just need to find the actual crime scene. He grabbed his metal case and walked towards the balcony where he pulled out the phenophalen. He removed the lid from the squrter bottle and replaced it with a funnel so he could pour the phenophalen in without accidentally spilling a drop. He then screwed the lid back on and squirted the whole balcony floor looking for any blood evidence. And...guess what. He found it! And he got a bonus as well: a handprint! Just as he did, his phone went off. Carefully, he used his gloved hands to retrieve the phone from his pocket and answer the incoming call.

"Grissom," Grissom answered.

"_It's Nick. I just finished the carpet swatch comparisons. We got a match._"

"I'm starting to get that feeling, Nicky, my boy," Grissom practically sing-songed.

"_Yeah. So am I._"

"Listen. I'll meet you at the interrogation. There's one more thing I wanna check," Grissom announced, "Say hi to little Kady for me."

"_OK. Bye._"

"OK. I'm ready to try this now," Grissom informed the security guard.

"Standby, house," he instructed into the radio.

Grissom then slid the card key into the slot and closed the door. After three seconds, he reoppened the door and looked at the gold jacket suit clad security guard.

"Did your security log record that?" Grissom asked.

"Did you guys get that?" the security guard repeated, "No. Well, I'll be damned! The curse! Well, I ain't playing those machines no more! It's true! You win, you die!"

"Gotya," Grissom whispered as he walked away.

"Got me for what?" Jamie scoffed.

"Capital murder," Grissom informed her.

"Oh, you're kidding me," Jamie moaned.

"I never kid about murder. What do you think, Nick? My turn to play it blind?" Grissom asked jokingly.

"Where's Kady when you're telling your stories?" Nick asked rhetorically.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Hey, Red. Have a nice life, huh? I know I will," Ted laughed as he walked back to the presidential suite._

_He tried to open the door. But he couldn't because he was too drunk too. Hearing that someone was trying to unlock the door, Jamie raced to the door with her murder weapon. She looked through the peep hole and saw that the person trying to come inside was Ted. She opened the door. Once he stumbled in, she hit him in the head with her weapon. He fell to the ground dead._

"_Now, the funny thing is, if Ted didn't come back to the room, then why were presidential carpet fibres found in his brand new watch? Unless you did come back. And you did the smart thing. After you threw him off the balcony, you cleaned up the crime scene. You left blood-soaked towels in plain sight. You're alibi:_ the blood came from Ted's forearms. How am I doing so far, Nicky?" Grissom questioned, only to have Nick chuckle in response.

"Yeah, I'm into it," Nick laughed.

"According to your statement, you felt slighted because Ted had just won $40 million and dumped you within half an hour; giving you motive enough to kill him. And you exercised that motive," Grissom finished, only to have Jamie hold up her wrists in response.

"Can I ask you a question?" Nick asked.

"Sure," Jamie grumbled as Grissom went to fetch the officer.

"How are you so cool? You took someone's life. Don't you care?" Nick wanted to know.

"No," Jamie shrugged carelessly.

"Deputy, we're gonna have her arrest," Grissom informed the officer.

"So can I ask you a question?" Jamie requested.

"Maybe," Grissom responded.

"All that stuff you rattled off. How did you know about all that?" Jamie demanded.

"Your boyfriend told me," was all Grissom said before she was dragged away.

Moments later, Grissom and Nick were walking out of the interrogation room. In the reception area, they saw Warrick sitting there holding Kady in his lap. He was holding her protectively. Like he felt that someone was going to come up and kidnap her right under his nose. That worried Nick a little bit. Normally, whenever Warrick's like that with Kady, something bad happened. What was going on this time? Was this because of Holly's murder? But it couldn't. They caught the guy. Was it something else? Nick can grill his best friend later. Right now, he wanted to spend some father-daughter time with his baby girl.

"I'll see you outside," Grissom said to Nick.

"Look, Kady. There's Daddy," Warrick whispered as he set his goddaughter on her feet.

Giggling and clapping her hands, she ran to her father smiling. Nick was smiling as well as he grabbed her hand and they walked away, leaving Grissom and Warrick alone to deal with their own business.

"They say I have to let you go. You violated the policies and procedures for clearing a scene. I read Sara's report," Grissom informed Warrick.

"I know. I messed up. Now Holly's dead," Warrick grumbled as he handed his gun and badge to Grissom, "I'm sorry, man."

"I'm sorry, too. I don't wanna do this," Grissom confessed.

"You got to. You know where I was?" Warrick asked.

"I got a pretty good idea," Grissom responded.

"I went to lay a bet. I didn't even think I was doing anything wrong. It never occured to me," Warrick sighed.

"It never occured to me either. You know what? If I let you go, I gotta let me go too. And Catherine and Brass; we're all coupled up in all this. I don't care what the book says. I lost one good person today. I don't wanna lose another. Here," Grissom said as he stood up and handed Warrick his gun and badge.

"I won't let you down again," Warrick swore.

Now they were standing in the parking lot outside the police department. Warrick turned to Nick who flashed him a smile and Kady waved at her godfather. Warrick smiled and waved back. Deep inside, his stomach was in knots as he looked at Kady hugging her father and smiling as he kissed her head. She is so innocent; so beautiful. And his best friend would lose her forever if he didn't do someone else's bidding. The thought of Kady away from her father made him sick. The father-and-daughter duo are so close. He felt that if Kady was taken away, he would lose his best friend with her. She was the light in her father's eyes. If she left, that light would vanish.

They all turned around and saw Brass dragging Holly's handcuffed shooter out of the department into a vehicle to take him to the correctional centre nearby. They all watched intently as the car drove away from the police department.

"He's gone," Grissom said to his collegues/friends.

"Daddy, is it over?" Kady asked her father in a cute voice.

"Yes it is, butterfly. Yes it is," Nick nodded as he kissed her head again and walked away with her in his arms.

He was closely followed by Sara and Catherine. Warrick remained. He contemplated the mess he got himself into. He made the wrong bet for an honourable judge. And because of that, that said judge owns him. And if he doesn't obey his orders or slips up even once, Nick could lose Kady forever. And no one, not even Nick's and Abigail's relatives, would be able to gain custody of the spirited three-year-old girl.

What is going to happen with him now? What was he going to do?

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, I know that Judge Culner didn't threaten to hurt someone if Warrick did something wrong while he owned him. But I wanted to make things interesting. I wanted a way to show you guys how much Warrick cares about Kady. Well...that and I thought that it would be a pretty good twist. Am I right?<strong>

**Anyways, I have to go now. Exams are coming up so I have a lot of assignments and other shit. And don't even get me started about the athletics carnival on the last day of school. And...I decided to STUPIDLY sign up for three events: shot put, long jump and triple jump. Yay me. That 'yay me' was sarcasm. Want more? REVIEW!**

**BYE, Y'ALL!**


	4. Crate n Burial

**Catherine and Warrick are assigned the case of the disturbing hit-and-run of Renda Harris. The only evidence they find, however, is a common car-paint scrape on the girl's scooter. In another case, a woman named Laura Garris has been buried alive and is screaming for help. A ransom message has been recorded, "Bring two million in hundreds to Charleston and Third in three hours or your wife dies. Stop me from taking the money, she still dies."**

**I own nothing realted to CSI aside from cute little Kady. ENJOY!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Previously on CSI...<strong>_

"_Congradulations, Nicky, my boy! You are now a CSI level 3!" Gil Grissom announced to Nick Stokes._

"_WHOO!" Nick cheered._

"_YOU DID IT, DADDY!" Kady squealed excitedly._

"_I sure did, butterfly!" Nick agreed as he twirled his giggling three-year-old daughter in the air._

"_Mummy?" Lindsay Willows called out quietly._

"_I couldn't drive here fast enough to tell you how much I love you," Catherine Willows murmured to her young daughter as she stroked her daughter's cheek gently with nothing but pure motherly love._

"_I love you too," Lindsay whispered._

"_Sara Sidle?" Catherine guessed._

"_I know who I am. I think you're a little confused," Sara Sidle remarked._

"_I just got off the phone with the Sherif. He says he wants me to run the unit," Grissom told Jim Brass._

"_You're the boss," Brass said._

"_They said I have to let you go," Grissom informed Warrick Brown._

"_I know," Warrick grumbled._

"_I don't care what the book says. I've lost one good person today. I don't wanna lose another," Grissom confessed as he handed Warrick his badge and gun._

Ah, the hot desert of Nevada. The sand, the blazing sun; what a perfect place to bury something...or someone...ALIVE. That's right. ALIVE! Unbelievable! Sure enough, it's real. A well-built young man was tipping the last bit of sand on the ground with a shovel before tapping the ground with the very same shovel and stomping on it a little. Once he was done, he walked away in the blazing heat. Underground, a woman turned on the lighter. She was gasping heavily. It was then she realized the position she was in: underground buried alive with virtually no chance of being found. She started whimpering, sobbing and shuddering. She even grasped at her throat a little bit. And here comes the screams in the alternating light and darkness emitted from that lighter...

"_Bring two million in hundreds to Charleston and Third or your wife dies. Stop me from taking the money, she still dies._"

"This guy thinks this is some kind of joke using a voice like that," Jack Garris moaned.

"He's altering his voice electronically, sir. He doesn't consider this a joke at all," Grissom retorted before replaying the ransom message.

"You guys have listened to that tape like 20 times. Can someone please go out and find my wife?" Jack demanded.

"Mr Garris, please. Sometimes if you listen closely, you can hear a lot," Grissom repremended him.

And he was right. He could hear something after he rewound and replayed the ransom tape. However, Jack couldn't hear a thing. But that was the main point...

"I don't hear anything," Jack scoffed.

"Right. Where do you hear nothing in Las Vegas?" Grissom asked, "Don't answer this, Kady."

"Aw come on!" Kady pouted.

"Let the kind man answer this one, Kadelin," Nick instructed his baby.

"Fine," Kady sighed as she pouted her lip and folded her small arms across her flat chest, causing Nick, Grissom and even Jack to laugh at how adorable the three-year-old is.

"Nah. Let her answer it," Jack laughed.

"The desert?" Kady guessed.

"Well done, butterfly," Nick complimented.

"And judging by what sounds like a low-frequency buzz in the background, possibly near power lines," Grissom added.

"How did you hear all that?" Jack questioned in amazement.

"I listen," was Grissom's smart response.

"OK. I got it. I spoke with the FBI. They'll back us up if we need it. But we have the handle," Brass announced.

"Detective! Wait! What are my chances here? Of Laura? For Laura?" Jack wanted to know.

"It's a three-hour window," was all Brass said.

"Will someone just tell me the truth?" Jack boomed.

"A ransom message with a short fuse means that the victim's situation will cause it to expire before the deadline regardless of what we do," Brass explained.

"In a car trunk. That kind of thing," Nick piped in before kissing his daughter's head and holding her closer.

"It's a form of passive murder, if you wanna be honest about," Brass summised.

"Well, you guys gotta move!" Jack ushered.

"Mr Garris, it's my experience that in situations like this, if you wanna go fast, go slow," Grissom remarked.

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Jorja Fox  
>Gary Dourdan<br>George Eads  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

"Get a picture of the security pad. Someone touches it before its dusted, I'll break their fingers," Sara threatened as she walked around the trashed house, "Shifted mirror; point of disturbance. A lamp; point of disturbance."

That was when Sara noticed something. While the guy behind her was taking snapshots of the shifted mirror and destroyed lamp, she walked up to a particular corner; a doorway, to be exact. That was when Sara felt a tug at her leg. She looked down and saw Kady smiling at her.

"Hey, Kadelin. Did you run off from daddy again?" Sara asked with a laugh as she settled the three-year-old on her hip.

"Yes, she did," Nick nodded as he appeared beside her, "Three-year-olds these days. Can't keep up with them."

"You're standing in my crime scene," Sara informed him.

"No. You're in mine," Nick retorted as he flashed the recorder.

"You're doing audio? I wanted that," Sara pouted as he handed Nick his baby back.

"I outrank you!" Nick reminded her.

"Technicality, who did Grissom handpick to work here?" Sara threw back.

"Keep telling yourself that," Nick scoffed before walking into another room.

"Hit the lights, will you?" Sara requested.

"Got it!" the guy shouted back.

The lights were turned off. Sara activated her UV Light thingy and waved it around that corner. **(Me: I still have no idea what they're called. So, please bear with me. Jason: Didn't you watch that special features thing on season 3? Me: That was days ago! It was a late night! I was practically falling asleep! Do you honestly expect me to remember? Jason: ...No. Me: Exactly!) **She immediately recognised the marks: fingernails.

"Shady friends? No! Laura surrounds herself with quality people. People with real substance," Jack explained.

"Has her behaviour changed recently? Drugs use? Alcohol? Things that-?" Brass began asking.

"No, no. Nothing like that. She's a health nut. We both are," Jack denied causing Brass to stand up and walk towards the window with a sigh, "Look. I'm a rich man. How do I let this guy know I'll pay?"

"We don't wanna go there yet," Brass said to him.

"Nick, tell lab to do a reverse algarithem on that tape and then get it into enhancement," Grissom instructed as Nick turned on the ignition.

"I know what to tell the audio guy," Nick reassured his boss.

"You've been a level 3 for what? Two weeks?" Grissom reminded him.

"I got it under control. I swear!" Nick swore.

"Roll down the back window," Grissom requested.

Nodding, Nick did so. He was a little confused...until he saw his boss bend inside and gently kiss his three-year-old goddaughter on her cheek.

"Bye, Uncle Gil!" Kady waved to her godfather.

"See ya later, alligator," Grissom smiled before walking away, earning giggles from Kady.

"Later!" Nick called to him and turning to his giggling daughter, "Aren't you tired yet?"

"Nope," Kady shook her head.

Nick sighed and muttered, "You're gonna be the end of me, kid," before driving away. Back inside, Sara was taking photos of the master bedroom when Grissom walked up to her.

"Looks like a professional job. The guy bypasses security. Surprises the wife in the back hall. Drags her in here. She grabs on to the doorway. Signs of a struggle. No sign of sexual assault. He's in. They're out. Probably, egressed from those doors. Excuse me. Is my evaluation interrupting you?" Sara asked Grissom who wasn't listening to her.

"Oh. No, no, no. I barely heard you," Grissom responded.

"Glad I have a healthy ego," Sara remarked, "Did you find something interesting there?"

"Dirt," Grissom told her.

"You're so technical, I can hardly keep up. But," Sarah joked.

"I'm sorry. But out of context it's...just dirt," Grissom explained referring to the stain on the carpet.

"Did you just slap on bad cologne?" Sara questioned as they walked outside.

"I never wear it. It interferes with the job," Grissom denied.

"It's almost sweet," Sara remarked.

"Hmmm...," Grissom mused as he picked a tissue up from the ground and smelt it before making Sara smell it too.

"Can't be choloform," Sara stated.

"Halothane, maybe," Grissom shrugged.

"We'll confirm it in GC Mass Spec," Sara decided as she grabbed an evidence bag.

"Looks like a professional job, I think you said," Grissom recalled teasingly, "Care to amend your evaluation? I mean, if the guy forgets the rag he used to knock her out, he can't be much of a pro."

"I keep trying to be a star pupil," Sara told him.

"Sara, that was a seminar. This is real," Grissom reminded her, "Pebbles, tile, the front is all concrete."

"No dirt. Context, there IS dirt on the carpeting inside," Sara said.

"In an otherwise spotless house," Grissom added.

"You're saying the kidnapper trekked the dirt in," Sara summised.

"It's possible," Grissom agreed, "As of now, that's about all we have so...I guess we follow the dirt."

Meanwhile, in another part of Las Vegas, something tragic has happened. There has been a hit-and-run. Sure. It's a bad thing. But the worst thing is...the victim was a young girl. The body bag containing her body was zipped up and taken away by an ambulance.

"How many hit and runs have we had this year?" Catherine asked Warrick.

"Too many. The only thing I can't stand is a punk coward," Warrick grumbled.

"My daughter wants one of these scooters. Says she's the only kid in the world who doesn't have one," Catherine remarked as she gazed at the scooter.

"She's not. Kady doesn't have one," Warrick reminded her.

"She's three years old! She's too young!" Catherine retorted as she bent down in front of it.

"You want me to take this case alone?" Warrich offered.

"You feeling alright, Warrick?" Catherine asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. I'm...I'm looking out for you," Warrick retorted, "It's that thing with Holly Gribbs. It's made me think of who I am to my partners, you know."

"So this is what? You're new leaf?" Catherine guessed.

"Yous keep on bussing on me, you won't see a new leaf," Warrick scoffed.

"Relax. I'll play nice," Catherine reassured him, "Thank you for the offer. I'm OK. I can handle this one. Be nice as this picture with this one special property. You wanna call it?"

"Vehicle's humming down Rochester. Vic was on her scooter heading eastbound. Car breaks here. Impact here. The victim was thrown, what, 20 metres?" Warrick guessed.

"We got us some paint that's gonna match up to another 20 million vehicles," Catherine stated.

"Yeah," Warrick agreed.

"Bastard," Catherine sighed.

"Are you ordering me not to pay the ransom?" Jack asked Brass in disbelief.

"It's a strong suggestion. Yes," Brass agreed.

"After you told me she could already be dead?" Jack scoffed in disbelief, "I don't believe you guys. This is my wife! I'm paying the ransom!"

"Look, if you give up the cash, the victim has no reason to communicate with us," Brass explained.

"Do you guys have any idea where Laura is right now?" Jack questioned them heatedly.

"We have a whole forensics lab working on this," Grissom reassured the worried man.

"Oh yeah? Something tells me I'll see her before you do," Jack said before walking away with the money in the bag.

"Well, your job just got harder," Brass remarked.

"Yeah," Grissom couldn't help but agree.

"I'll stay close to the money," Brass announced before walking away.

"This dirt has interesting property. The gold flecks; that's easy. Gold. The little grey swiggles: cyanide," Grissom informed Sara back at the lab.

"Cyanide?" Sara repeated in disbelief as she looked up from the microscope, "He poisoned her."

"Nope. Did you know that Nevada produces 80% of the country's gold? Miners drop cyanide powder into the dirt and it draws the gold to the surface," Grissom explained.

"And how does a bug specialist know so much about dirt?" Sara asked curiously.

"I had a case five years ago. We found a skeleton in an abandoned gold mine. I thought it was murder. Turned out the guy passed out drunk and the cyanide leeched into his system," Grissom recalled.

"Grusome, Grissom," Sara sighed.

"It's one of the few cases I worked with Abigail," Grissom sighed as he remembered the extraordinary woman who was like a daughter to him and will never see her baby grow up.

"Who's Abigail?" Sara wanted to know.

"You know, it's funny how every case teaches me about the next," Grissom quickly changed the subject.

"So when you said follow the dirt," Sara started.

"Gold mine," Grissom finished as they looked at a map, "It's possible that's where he got her."

"Great. There's gotta be a hundred gold mines in Nevada," Sara stated.

"True. But how many are near power lines within a range of a drop zone?" Grissom retorted, "Three. One. Two. Three."

"This is your hit-and-run victim. Bad thing about this job is that you stop asking why," the coroner remarked as she uncovered parts of the young girl when necessary, "Here's the bruise I was telling you about. You see it?"

Catherine and Warrick examined it closely. In their mind, they saw the front of the car hitting the girl and heard her screaming in agony. That's one of the worst things of working in law enforcement: cases involve children really affect you, especially if you have a child of your own (Catherine), love children (Warrick) and are close to your godchild (both). Warrick wouldn't admit this. But whenever he looked at the victim, he sometimes saw Kady at her age. He thought about how if you didn't do Judge Culner's bidding, Nick would lose Kady forever and that one day, she might be murdered and they might end up working her murder case.

"Oh my God. Plate numbers," Catherine moaned.

"From the license plate when it impacted on her skin," the cororner added.

"Looks like a four and a J," Warrick read.

"Yeah," Catherine agreed quietly.

"Not like he left us any evidence," Warrick stated sarcastically.

"Call DMV," Catherine requested.

"I'll get them to crosscheck this partial within a 5-mile radius. See what they'll come up with. You'll have those pictures for me?" Warrick asked.

"Yep," she nodded.

"I'll meet you out front," Catherine promised.

"Right," Warrick responded before walking out.

Now, Grissom and Sara are in a helicopter flying above those gold mines Grissom suggested. They had a heat-sensor thingy with them too. Obviously, they're hoping to find Laura in time before her air runs out and she suffocates. And so far...well, they were having more luck with coyotes.

"Freaky," Sara remarked, "Is that what I think it is?"

"A pack of coyotes. The sensor picks up any kind of body heat; two-legged or four-legged," Grissom explained.

Hey! A golf place! What could bring us here today? Ah, yes. It's the drop-off zone for the million-dollar ransom. Brass was sitting inside his car watching carefully for anything suspicious. Any one of these golfers could be the person who kidnapped Laura and buried her alive. Honestly, it's kinda scary when you think about it. Suddenly, he saw another car pull up. It was Jack Garris with the bag containing the money. He threw it in a garbage bin just as requested. At that moment, Nick slid inside the car with Kady in his arms.

"Hey, Captain Brass," Nick greeted quietly.

"Jesus, you scared me," Brass remarked before kissing Kady's head, "Hello, beautiful."

"Hi," Kady replied back.

"Sorry. Sorry. Grissom told me to hook up with you since the drop-off place will be a crime scene," Nick told him, "And I couldn't find anyone at the lab to babysit Kady. Grissom and Sara are out looking for Laura and Catherine and Warrick are working a case involving a child so I brought her along."

"We hope. And thank God you brought Kady along. I need someone to keep me sane. And who could be better than my own goddaughter?" Brass remarked as Jack climbed into his car.

"Come on. Give us something two-legged," Grissom quietly pleaded.

"Last mine. Circled it twice," Sara informed her boss.

"And we'll circle it again," Grissom decided before Sara gave the pilot the signal to go around again.

"Daddy, why don't they move in on the guy?" Kady asked her father.

"Because he's probably just walking his dog, baby girl," Nick murmured to her.

"He did no wrong?" Kady summised.

"Yes, butterfly. He did no wrong," Nick agreed as he tickled her stomach a little bit, "Although he's been there five minutes."

"Well, dogs take their time. Do you wanna be rushed?" Brass retorted.

"_Male in a ball cap. 10 o'clock._"

"Here, kitty, kitty," Nick coaxed quietly, causing Kady to giggle, "Shh, shh. We don't want him to know we're here. OK?"

"OK," Kady whispered with a nod.

"Nobody moves, you got that? Rock solid until my order," Brass spoke into his radio.

"_Copy._"

They watched as the guy looked around suspiciously to make sure no one was watching him. Brass, Nick and Kady were watching him intently. Nick and Brass were thinking that this could be their suspect. Kady just had no idea what was going on. Well, she is three years old, in her defence. She was just copying the actions of her father and godfather...and looking cute doing so.

"What was that? Go back!" Grissom instructed as he picked something up on the sensor.

"Where?" Sara asked.

"There! Swing around!" Grissom demanded before the helicopter swung round and they saw Laura on the sensor, "My God! She's below the surface!"

"OK! Let's land! Take her down! NOW!" Sara requested.

"_Medical team's right behind us! I'll guide them in!_"

Sara and Grissom didn't listen. They just threw their headphones off and dismantled the helicopter. With their torches, they raced to where they found Laura on the sensor.

"IT'S GOTTA BE RIGHT UP HERE!" Grissom told Sara.

"LAURA!" Sara called out.

"MRS GARRIS!" Grissom shouted, "CAN YOU HEAR US?"

"MRS GARRIS!" Sara yelled.

"WE'RE WITH THE LAS VEGAS POLICE DEPARTMENT!" Grissom exclaimed.

Then they began hearing a scream being emitted from underground. They realised it was Laura fighting for her life in that small crate with only a limited air supply left. Just one question: HOW CAN SHE STILL BE SCREAMING?

"Here! She's here!" Grissom realised.

Immediately, Sara and Grissom fell onto their knees and began digging frantically for Laura. Police cars and ambulances were arriving behind them as they continued digging. Then something happened.

"I FOUND SOMETHING!" Sara informed Grissom.

There was indistinctive shouting as officers and medical teams rushed to their aide. They removed the remainder of the dirt from the crate. At long last, they unearthed the crate. Immediately, someone handed Grissom an axe so he could pry the crate open. Then they all lifted the lid and saw Laura lying there with her hands bound. She was gasping for breath. Thankfully, she was still alive.

"Oh thank God," Sara sighed in relief as Grissom pulled her out of the crate.

"OK. We're gonna pull her up. Sara, get me something to cut the tape," Grisson requested, "You OK?"

"Here you go," Sara handed Grissom a pair of blue scissors.

"You're gonna be OK," Grissom promised her as he cut the tape, "OK."

Once he was done, the medical team wisked her away towards an ambulance to get her checked out. Only Grissom and Sara remained near the crate. He turned to her and saw her expression.

"You OK?" Grissom asked her worriedly.

"It never ceases to amaze me what people do to each other," Sara remarked, "TRANSPORT THIS BOX TO THE CRIME LAB!"

"Victor 8 team. Brass, you hear me?" Grissom spoke into the radio...well, technically, shouted due to the racket.

"_Copy._"

"We've got the package and she's still alive! _Brass, do you read me? Over!_"

"Victor 9. Affermative. Way to go. Major player is in our sight. Will update. Out," Brass answered before terminating the frequency.

"You think that's him? Do you think that's our guy right there?" Nick asked.

"What do you think, baby girl? You think that's our guy?" Brass questioned Kady.

"Yep," Kady nodded.

They watched the guy closely. Then they saw him reach for the garbage bin, most specifically, the money bag. Kady was right. He his the bad guy...or is he?

"MOVE ON HIM, CAPTAIN! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" Brass screamed into the radio, surprising Kady a little.

Immediately, the police cars began surrounding him. The cops stepped out and pointed their guns at him.

"POLICE OFFICERS! FREEZE!" one of them demanded.

"Hey! Hey! No! I wasn't stealing the bag! Alright?" the guy defended.

"Hands on your head and get down on your knees!" the officer instructed harshly.

"Hold still," another officer told him.

Brass and Nick ran up to the guy. Nick ran carefully because he had his baby girl in his arms. That made some of the officers smile a little. Obviously, everyone loves Kady. She's like their mascot! Plus, she's only three years old and already has the makings of a fantastic CSI.

"OK! LOOK AT THE BAG! IT'S NOT EVEN LEATHER! WHY WOULD I WANT IT?" the guy tried to tell the officers.

"I think we've got about two million reasons, tiger," Brass retorted.

Catherine and Warrick are making a house call. And the person they're visiting is...MR MOORE!

"Hello," Catherine greeted.

"Can I help you folks?" Mr Moore asked.

"Mr Charles Moore?" Catherine assumed, only to have him nod, "We're with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. We'd like to talk to you about your car."

"We believe it may be involved in a traffic collision earlier this evening," Warrick announced.

"I told the police when they called that my car was stolen," Mr Moore explained to them.

"That's why we have a search warrent, sir," Catherine told him as she held up said warrent, "So we can have a look in your garage."

The garage door was opened and look at what was sitting there in plain sight: his car! The front of it was damaged. The registration plate was hanging off of it. The front was dented. Classic indicators of an involvement in an accident. Catherine turned to face him with a certain look gracing her soft features.

"It was an accident. I saw the girl and I tried to brake but I accelerated by mistake. I get confused. I shouldn't have left. I was wrong. Is she OK?" Mr Moore asked them worriedly.

"She died at the scene," Catherine told him.

"Oh my God!" Mr Moore sobbed.

"You're gonna be charged with manslaughter, Mr Moore; a felony hit-and-run. Do you have a lawyer?" Warrick asked.

Moments later, Catherine was at the crime lab getting a cake from the fridge when Warrick walked in.

"Cath, I just got off the phone with the traffic guys. Moore's car should be here any minute," Warrick informed her as she opened the box to reveal Happy Birthday, Lindsey written in yellow frosting.

"Is it me or did he give up too easily?" Catherine asked him.

"The old guy was scared," Warrick reminded her.

"You have to see the birthday present I got for your daughter," Grissom gushed as he walked in with a bag.

"What's the rule? How long do I have to be here before I start kicking in for gifts?" Sara demanded as she walked in behind Grissom.

"When spirit moves you, Sara. So in your case...never," Catherine shrugged.

"I got one of these chem labs when I was six. Almost blew up the whole house," Grissom explained as he showed her the chem lab with a laugh.

"I hope you can return it cause Lindsey doesn't want a party," Catherine announced, causing Grissom's grin to vanish.

"Yeah. What kid doesn't want a party?" Grissom scoffed.

"Hey. What time is Lindsey coming by?" Nick questioned as he and Kady walked in.

"She isn't," Catherine responded.

"Yeah. But I got her this chem set," Nick started before realizing that Grissom had the same one.

"You keep that. You might learn something," Sara teased.

"Stop flirting with me. Cath, really, when's the party?" Nick asked.

"What do I have to do? Put it on a bulletin board? My daughter doesn't want a party! Is everybody clear on that?" Catherine snapped.

"Well, what does she wanna do?" Sara questioned.

"Just wanna spend the day with me and Kady. So Nick, is it OK if I have Kady this afternoon?" Catherine asked.

"Sure. Kady and Lindsey love each other," Nick gushed, "Kady even made something for her."

"Hey, sweetie. What did you make?" Catherine questioned Kady as she bent to her eye level.

"I drew this for her," Kady responded as she held up a homemade card.

"I helped, of course," Nick piped in.

"Sure you did," Sara nodded sarcastically.

"Shut up, Sara," Nick grumbled.

"Kady, this is amazing! Lindsey will love it!" Catherine reassured her.

The front cover of the card had a handdrawn picture of herself, Lindsey, Catherine, Eddie and everyone at the crime lab. The words Happy birthday, Lindsey were written in rainbow colours. There were stickers on it too. On the inside, she saw another drawing and a birthday message. There were also spaces left as well. Obviously, she was gonna get everyone to sign the card.

"Beaten by a three-year-old when it comes to great gifts. How sad is that?" Warrick sighed.

"She had Abigail as her mother," Catherine reminded her, causing Nick to sadden a little bit.

"Again, who's Abigail?" Sara wanted to know.

"Here. Why don't we all sign it?" Grissom suggested.

Before they knew it, the card was on the table and everyone was writing their message on it. Nick and Kady convinced Brass to sign it earlier. Once they were done, their pagers started going off.

"Our car is here," Warrick announced as he and Catherine walked off.

"Our box is in," Sara informed as she followed Warrick and Catherine.

"Our victim's ready at Desert Palm," Grissom stated as he gave Nick his own Chem Lab, "You and I can play with one later and Kady and Lindsey can play with the other one."

"Thanks, guys," Sara thanked as the box was lowered before her.

"No problem," one of them responded as they walked away.

"Garris Winery," Sara read.

"And you never saw the person, huh?" Grissom asked Laura.

"He grabbed me from behind," Laura explained while her husband soothed her by stroking her brown hair, "There was something clamped over my mouth. That's the last thing that I remember."

"You know how you got the bruising around your eye?" Grissom questioned.

"I have no idea," Laura sobbed, "I'm sorry. I was knocked out. I don't think I can help you."

"I think she's been through enough. Can we cut this short?" Jack demanded.

"Sure. I'd also like to get a blood sample from you if I could," Grissom requested.

"What for?" Laura wanted to know.

"You've got scratches on your arm. If we can find traces of your blood and run his truck, we can match your DNA. Make our case against him that much stronger," Grissom explained.

"Come on, Grissom. You have the guy. Isn't that enough?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. Well, we didn't get any prints off the duct tape. Our audio guy's working on the tape. Right now, we need something more concrete if we wanna prove he did it," Grissom informed him.

"I wanna help, Jack," Laura said.

"OK. Alright," Jack nodded.

"Whatever it takes to put this guy behind bars, I'll do," Laura reassured him.

Meanwhile, Sara was back at the lab dusting the duct tape for prints. And looky here. She found one! She grabbed some tape and stuck it over the print. She ran her fingers over it to stick it on fully before ripping it off to reveal a fingerprint, making her smile.

"So you wanna talk to us? No lawyer?" Brass asked Chip.

"Why would I need a lawyer? Look. I told you. I didn't know there was any money in that bag. I hit balls at that park twice a week. Ask around," Chip suggested.

"And the fact that you're Jack Garris' trainer?" Brass retorted.

"How does that mean I kidnapped his wife?" Chip demanded, "I know the dude!"

"Yeah. And the layout of the guy's house," Brass added.

"He pays me extra to come to him," Chip explained.

"You wanna explain to me why your fingerprints were all over the crate Laura Garris was buried in?" Brass questioned.

"Look. Unless it was from Jack's vineyard, I don't know," Chip shrugged, "I helped him move some crates a couple of weeks ago up to his garage. I can't believe it. You have nothing to hold me on. Going once, going twice, SOLD to the man walking out the front door!"

"Don't go too far," Brass warned.

"My lawyer's number in case you'd like to communicate with me again," Chip offered to him before walking away and Grissom apporached Brass, "Hey, didn't I see you on the news tonight? Chopper? You were digging up Jack's wife? It was amazing! Hope you catch the guy."

"Me too," Grissom agreed, "So?"

"Ah, kid didn't give up a thing...except the tape that will break the case open," Brass responded as he handed Grissom a tape.

"Did you let him know you were recording him?" Grissom asked.

"Yeah. The guy's got no idea what you scientist types can do with a little audio tape," Brass smirked.

"Thank you," Grissom thanked before walking out.

"How tall do you think Mr Moore is?" Warrick asked Catherine.

"Six feet, I'd say," Catherine shrugged.

"I hope he really loves hugging that steering wheel because this seat is pushed all the way forward," Warrick remarked as he opened the door and struggled to climb inside, "Ooh. Well, I'm six feet and this mirror isn't helping me at all!"

"Start the car," Catherine suggested.

"Why?" Warrick wanted to know.

"Just do it," was all Catherine said.

And start the car, Warrick did. When he did, they were met by the music genre known as rap blaring out of the car's speakers. Warrick couldn't help but cheer and bop around a little bit...

"Mr Moore wasn't the last person to drive this car," Catherine announced...only to have Warrick ignore her, "Turn the music off."

"This?" Warrick repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah," Catherine nodded.

"Get stuffed," Warrick grumbled before turning it off.

"No one over 19 was the last person to drive this car," Catherine told him.

"Yeah," Warrick sighed.

"Hey. Just in time. We're giving it a final run," Nick remarked as Grissom walked in.

"_Bring two million in hundreds to Charleston and Third in three hours or your wife dies. Stop me from taking the money, she still dies._"

"This is the end of the same tape after reversing the algarithmic," the audio guy announced as he played it back.

"_Stop me from taking the money, she still dies._"

"Sounds like our guy to me," Grissom remarked.

"It is," Kady nodded.

"Now the ransom tape against your exempler. You got it loaded up, THD?" Nick asked.

"Right here," THD nodded.

"_Look. Unless it was from Jack's vineyard, I don't know. I helped him move some crates a couple of weeks ago up to his garage._"

"Survery says perfect match to the naked ear," Grissom sing-songed, "Now where's the spectograph so the defence attornies can't claim that our alterations weren't altered?"

"Right here. Yellow lines are the ransom message. Blue's the interview," THD defined as he compared them...only to get a green line.

"Something's wrong. There's just a green line," Nick stated.

"That's because the blue line's right on top of the yellow line which makes it green," Kady explained cutely.

"It's a perfect match," Grissom added.

"How do you learn all this stuff?" Nick asked his daughter in a baby voice.

"I'm giving her a head start in her education," Grissom explained.

"We got our kidnapper," Nick cheered.

"What do you do now, Nick?" Grissom questioned.

"I'll call Brass. Tell him to pick this guy up," Nick announced.

"Tell Brass to drag his heels because you still have work to do," Grissom told him.

"Grissom, could you look at something out back?" Sara requested, "Could be big."

"Yeah. Come see me after you raised Brass," Grissom instructed Nick before walking out with Sara.

"What did I do wrong?" Nick wanted to know.

"I'm not gonna spoil Grissom's fun. This is how he teaches all you guys," THD explained.

"Does anybody else drive your car, Mr Moore?" Warrick asked Mr Moore in the interrogation room.

"I was driving the car yesturday," Mr Moore told them.

"That doesn't answer our question," Catherine said.

"Pops, are you OK?" James asked worriedly as he walked in.

"What's he doing here?" Mr Moore demanded.

"Your grandson is an approved driver on your insurance. We had him pulled out of school," Catherine explained.

"So James, you like Mostef?" Warrick asked.

"Did you hit that girl with your grandfather's car?" Catherine questioned after James sat down beside his grandfather.

"Pops, let me explain it to them," James begged.

"No," Mr Moore denied.

"They should hear what happened!" James retorted.

"They're going to from me. I asked James to drive with me. I don't do so good at night driving. When I hit that girl, I got knocked whoozy. And James switched seats and took over the wheel. Got me home. He was worried about me. Not the girl. One more moving violation and they take away my keys. I'm not saying good judgement was used. But that's what happened," Mr Moore explained.

"James, you wanna add anything to that?" Warrick quizzed.

"No. That's how it was," James agreed with his grandfather.

"Please escort Mr Moore back to his cell," Warrick requested.

"Sir," the officer said as Mr Moore stood up.

"I'll come see you with a lawyer," James promised.

"Just not during school hours," Mr Moore begged.

"I won't," James swore as Mr Moore was escorted out of the interrogation room by uniformed officers.

"James? You have family? Someone you can call?" Catherine asked.

"It's just the two of us," James explained.

"We can give you a lift home," Catherine offered.

"Thanks. But no. I'll take the bus," James kindly declined before walking away.

"We know that James was riding solo that night," Catherine said to Warrick.

"Like I know my middle name. Well, let's go back to the car and find the proof," Warrick suggested, "What?"

"It's just that we get so much power in this job which we use to get the bad guys. Once in a while, I'd like to use it to help the good guys like Mr Moore and his grandson," Catherine confessed.

"And what? Forget about little Renda Harris?" Warrick retorted.

"No. What I'm saying is that putting James away isn't gonna bring Renda back. Mr Moore is willing to do the time. And the victim's family gets closure," Catherine went on.

"Hey. You don't think I'm feeling this? But we gotta follow the evidence. Even if we don't like where it takes us. It's the job," Warrick reminded her.

"Yeah. I know it," Catherine sighed.

"Hey. We're still making deals with the devil and you get to walk away. You understand what I'm saying?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah. Momentary lapse," Catherine nodded before she and Warrick headed back to the evidence garage.

"I want you to find something new on that tape," Grissom instructed Nick.

"Like what? We already match the guy's voice," Nick stated.

"You know what the defence attornies will do with that? That's who you're up against in the end," Grissom warned him.

"You think I don't know that? You've been second-guessing me since I got on this case," Nick sighed.

"People leave us clues, Nick. They speak to us in thousands of different ways. It's our job to make sure we heard everything they've said. Anything less is reasonable doubt," Grissom reminded him.

"I'll go back to the tape," Nick promised before walking away.

"You any better?" Grissom asked Catherine.

"What are you talking about?" Catherine demanded.

"Your little major-minor blowup about Lindsey not wanting a party?" Grissom recalled.

"Oh that. Yeah. I'm just afraid that I'm making her weird. You know?" Catherine sighed.

"No," Grissom shook his head.

"I work 24/7. I have no time for my friends. My daughter rarely sees me having any fun. And all of a sudden, she doesn't want a party," Catherine listed.

"And that's because of you," Grissom summised.

"Yes. I'm her mother. She mimics me just like Kady mimics Abby," Catherine agreed.

"Well, then she'll be fine. I mean, look at you," Grissom reassured her.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," Catherine grumbled.

"Grissom, could you come tape me up?" Sara requested.

"I love my work," Grissom smirked to Catherine.

"It shows," Catherine remarked before he walked away.

Sara and Grissom flashed knowing smiles at each other as Grissom taped Sara's hands together. When he was done, he placed the roll of tape on the roof of the car and just looked at her confusedly.

"So, you've found Laura's hairs here passenger side front seat?" Grissom asked her.

"Right. Not in the back. Which made me ask: what kind of kidnapper puts a woman bound and unconscious in the front seat?" Sara asked as she sat in the passenger seat, "The back of my arm isn't touching the sheepskin seat."

"Yeah. So?" Grissom wanted to know.

"But the ripped sheepskin on the back of Laura's sleeve. That tells us Laura would have sat back like a normal person would. Could you cut me?" Sara requested before Grissom cut the tape, "Like this."

"So she wasn't bound at all," Grissom summised.

"Right. But would a kidnapper risk putting a conscious woman in the front seat of his car even unbound? The answer's in the question. You taught me that. So was she unconscious? We found halothane on the patio. Halothane knocks you out if you take it," Sara stated.

"So you're saying she never inhaled the halothane," Grissom realised.

"Proof would be in her blood. Halothane stays in her system up to 48 hours," Sara explained.

"How pleased am I that I got a sample of her blood?" Grissom rhetorically asked, "So you can go check at the lab and see how that turned out."

"Damnit. I wanted to carry the ball over the line," Sara joked before walking away.

"I know," Grissom smiled.

"I just picked up our kidnapper, Chip. What's up?" Brass greeted as he walked in, "His lawyer's at the house and wants to make a deal."

"No deals. We know what Chip has to offer," Grissom announced.

"Oh yeah, Kraston. What's that?" Brass demanded.

"Laura Garris," Grissom answered.

"The victim?" Brass repeated.

"The accomplice," Grissom corrected.

"HEY!" Nick called to Grissom as he caught up with him.

"You got something that can't wait, Nick?" Grissom wanted to know.

"The ransom tape enhanced; mega enhanced," Nick offered him the recorder.

"Good. I'll listen to it right now," Grissom promised.

"Hey. It's just...I didn't know there was more to look for, you know," Nick defended.

"You didn't. It doesn't matter how we got here. Just remember this," Grissom told Nick, causing him to stop dead in his tracks.

Meanwhile, Catherine was back in the evidence garage looking at the car. She was waving her torch around the stereo. Found nothing. She waved it around the steering wheel. Found a chipped tooth. Went on to the-wait. Chipped tooth? That could break the case wide open!

"When you want evidence, you don't find it. When you don't want it, it's as big as Dallas," Catherine remarked.

"What you got?" Warrick asked as he approached her with Kady in his arms.

"Is that a tooth?" Kady questioned her godfather.

"Can you tell what that is?" Catherine wanted to know.

"My aunt Bertha can tell what that is and she's legally blind. And our three-year-old goddaughter knows what that is," Warrick stated as he kissed Kady's head and held her close.

"Are you sure you're OK, Warrick? Because since we got this case, you've been itching to spend time with Kady and when you do, you never wanna let her go. Actually, you've been like this with her since the Holly Gribbs shooting. It's like you think that if you take your eyes off her for a second, someone's gonna take her from right under your nose. Is something going on?" Catherine demanded.

"I can't talk about it," Warrick grumbled.

"Why can't you?" Catherine pressed.

"Confidentiality agreement," Warrick lied.

That caused Catherine to shut up. A confidentiality agreement is a confidentiality agreement...

"You wanna look at my teeth? What kind of an investigation is this?" Mr Moore quizzed.

"A forensic investigation, sir," Warrick cleared up.

"Fine. You look at my teeth," Mr Moore relented as he removed his false teeth from his mouth and placed them on the table, "Give them back when you're done."

"James, we found a tooth chip embedded in the steering wheel of your grandfather's car. It doesn't appear to be from your grandfather's teeth," Catherine announced.

"James, you have a chipped tooth?" Warrick questioned, "Must be an incisor or we would've noticed."

"Pops, I'm sorry, but I got to," James apologised.

"He's a good boy. It was an accident. I make him call. Let me know where he is. Especially when he's out after dark," Mr Moore began explaining.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Hey, Pops. It's me. I'm just in the hood. I thought I might check out a movie over at the Play. OK. See you later," James spoke into his phone._

_He dropped his phone and went to pick it up. He didn't see Renda riding her scooter in front of him. And when he did, he tried to stop, but it was too late. She screamed as the car hit her hard. James hit his head on the steering wheel and chipped his tooth. He started freaking out a lot. Without getting out and seeing if she was OK, he drove away. He unintentionally left her to die on that street.  
><em>_End flashback_

"He drove straight home and wanted me to go to the police station with him," Mr Moore summised.

"I didn't know that little girl was dead. I swear. I didn't know what to do. I knew Pops would know," James defended.

"I wouldn't let him turn himself in. That was my decision. The boy's going places. College; he's got a real future," Mr Moore added.

"I'm sorry, Mr Moore. James, I'm afraid you're gonna have to be taken into custody," Catherine announced apologetically.

"Miss, please. I'm willing to serve his time," Mr Moore begged.

"I know you are, Mr Moore. We can't let you do that," Catherine apologised.

"I made him cover it up! It was my decision!" Mr Moore exclaimed.

"He can explain all that to court. I'll be a witness. We both will," Catherine promised the two of them.

Moments later, James was in handcuffs and two uniformed officers were taking him to custody. Catherine and Warrick followed them out a moment later.

"Hey. Why don't you run on home? I'll handle this. Hey, Kady! You're gonna see Lindsey!" Warrick told the young girl.

"YAY!" Kady squealed as she ran to her with her card, "I love Lindsey."

"She loves you too, baby girl," Catherine reassured her as she scooped her up in her arms, "Is this part of your new leaf?"

"Your daughter gets out of school in a half hour right?" Warrick asked Catherine, earning a nod from her, "You can surprise her on her birthday. Why pick a fight with me now?"

"I owe you," Catherine said.

"Don't think I won't collect," Warrick joked before walking away.

"Greatful Dead CD?" Sara guessed as she walked into Grissom's office.

"Who's dead?" Grissom demanded as he removed his headphones.

"No halophane in Laura Garris' blood which proves she was never knocked out. She went willingly. She and Chip faked her kidnapping which, of course, makes no sense at all," Sara explained.

"Because she ended up underground in a box," Grissom went on.

"With a black eye. Any theories?" Sara wanted to know.

"Greed," was Grissom's one-worded answer.

"That's ridiculous," Laura scoffed, "I don't even know Jack Brundel, except that he's Jack's personal trainer."

"But you became pretty good friends, didn't you?" Grissom questioned.

"No. Jack, no," Laura denied the claims.

"I believe my wife," Jack said.

"The thing is, Jack, I tend not to believe people. People lie. The evidence doesn't lie," Grissom confessed.

"You and Chip made a plan to runaway together with your hard-earned millions. Divorce takes too long and it's too messy. The plan was surprisingly well thought out," Sara began explaining.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Don't move," Chip threatened as he clamped his hand over Laura's mouth._

_Laughing, she turned around. They kissed and she jumped onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck._

"_Come on. Say it," Laura requested as they went around to make the house appear like there was a struggle._

"_No," Chip denied._

"_Say it!" Laura demanded._

"_What?" Chip asked._

"_Say the words," Laura instructed._

"_I love you," Chip finally said as she scratched the doorway and Chip left that dirt stain on the carpet, "Put this on. We're out of here."_

_As Chip carried Laura out of the house, she dropped the tissue soaked with halothane on the ground.  
><em>_End flashback_

"You were in, you were out – Oh! – and you dropped that halothane rag to make sure we would find it and know you were unconscious; a real victim. With all due respect, Jack, she's anything but," Sara said.

"Oh really? Then how did I end up buried alive scared to death?" Laura asked.

"We're getting to that. You and Chip drove out of town. She sat in the front seat unbound fully conscious. They stopped at a roadside phone. Chipper called in the ransom. I think you were still in the truck then. Right, Laura?" Sara questioned.

"Whatever. This is your thing," Laura stated.

"Pay attention. This is about to become yours," Sara said.

"Then you both drove east towards Sandfill Mine. He probably told you about some little line shack or something where you could stay while he picked up the ransom money. But then all of a sudden, he pulled over. Probably made an excuse," Grissom went on with Sara's story.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Chip! What are we doing?" Laura asked as she ran to catch up with him._

"_Switching cars. Covering our tracks. I've got a Jeep up over this hill," Chip lied._

"_Where?" Laura demanded.  
><em>_End flashback_

"I bet right away in your gut, you knew something was up. And then just a few minutes later, you were sure," Grissom continued.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Laura and Chip continued walking through the desert. Laura stopped when she looked down and saw the crate buried ready for its occupant: Laura, in this case. That was when she realised what was going on. This was a trap. He didn't want to runaway with her. He wanted her out of the way so he could take that $2 million ransom all for himself. When she turned around, he punched her in the eye, causing her to fall into the crate. That was when he sealed the crate shut and buried her alive.  
><em>_End flashback_

"That's when I believe you got your black eye," Grissom finished.

"I, uh, I don't remember," Laura lied as she gingerly touched her eye.

"And then finally, you were unconscious. He duct taped your hands and he buried you," Grissom officially finished his story as Nick walked in.

"Guess he figured why he should split $2 million when he could dump you and have it all," Sara added.

"Laura?" Jack said.

"Jack, it's not true. I had no part in it," Laura denied.

"I had audio download everything. You want me to cue it up?" Nick asked as he set everything up.

"Let's listen to Chip's message, OK? Remember, Jack? I told you you could hear a lot if you listen?" Grissom recalled.

"Yeah," Jack nodded.

"_Bring two million in hundreds to Charleston and Third in three hours or your wife dies. Stop me from taking the money, she still dies._"

"I'm sure you all recognise Chip's voice unaltered. Now one more time with a slight variation," Nick announced as he played a different tape.

"It's amazing what we can do with the new forensic audio programs. Enhance sounds, isolate them," Grissom gushed.

"Heck, we can lift entire speeches just to see what's underneath," Nick added.

"A car went by when Chip was on the phone to you, Jack. Scared you didn't it, Laura? Thought it might be the police?" Grissom asked knowingly.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Bring two million in hundreds to Charleston and Third in three hours or your wife dies," Chip spoke into the phone.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Let's hear it once more without that annoying car," Grissom suggested as Nick played the audio.

"_Chip, hurry up!_"

Yep. That was definately Laura's voice on that tape. Now Jack had heard enough. He was finally fully convinced.

"You're my whole life," Jack told Laura.

"Oh please, Jack. Your work is your life. How else do you think I started sleeping with Chip right under your nose?" Laura scoffed.

"Alright. Let's go. Laura, an officer has a car waiting out front," Nick started as he motioned the officer to come in.

"Just wait. Just wait a second! Grissom, I can help you! I can get you Chip! Not just on this! He was into a lot of things! Steoroids! He was into credit cards!" Laura ratted out as she was handcuffed.

"We already have you both for about 25 years minimum," Grissom announced.

With that being said, the officer dragged Laura away from the living room towards the car outside. But she walked with her head held high. Grissom, Sara, Nick and Jack followed seconds later. They watched as Laura was seated in the back seat of the police car with another officer.

"There's one thing you didn't explain in there. Since you dug Laura up, why didn't she turn Chip in?" Jack wanted to know.

"Self-preservation. She rats on him, she rats on herself," Grissom explained.

Jack looked at the car angrily. Laura turned her head to face him as the ignition was started. While the police left, Jack stalked inside angrily. Only Grissom and Sara remained on the front patio.

"Did you have a good day at school?" Catherine asked as she and Lindsey ate iceblocks in the park. Lindsey gave Kady half of her cupcake she received from school. She would eat the other half. Well, these two have known each other practically all their lives. They're very close friends. So they share everything...except boys. That would just cause trouble.

"Yeah. Three friends made me birthday cards," Lindsey told her.

"They did? Well, you got some good friends. And you better make that four because Kady made you a birthday card," Catherine announced as Kady held up the birthday card.

"Kady, you're amazing!" Lindsey squealed as she embraced her best friend.

"So Lindsey, how come you didn't want a party with them?" Catherine questioned.

"I see my friends everyday at school. I never get to be alone with you and Kady," Lindsey explained.

"Oh. Wow. Well, I'm glad to be alone with you too. I like this more than you will ever know," Catherine said.

"Me too!" Kady piped in before taking a bite of her cupcake.

"Are you gonna get me one of those for my birthday?" Lindsey asked when two boys went past them on scooters.

"Uh, maybe when you're older. Like, 40," Catherine decided.

"Mummy," Lindsey giggled.

"Whattie?" Catherine responded in the same manner.

"That's not fair!" Lindsey cried.

"No. It's not fair. Life isn't fair," Catherine retorted.

"Life's a bitch. Move on," Kady smiled.

"Kadelin Taylor Stokes, who taught you that word?" Catherine demanded.

"Uncle Greg. He teaches me and Lindsey a lot of words. Like shit," Kady explained.

"We weren't supposed to rat Uncle Greg out," Lindsey hissed.

"OK. When I get back to the lab, Uncle Nicky and I are gonna have a little chat with Uncle Greg," Catherine decided.

"Hey, Lindsey. Daddy and Uncle Gil got us two chem labs! They said we could have one!" Kady told her friend.

"COOL!" Lindsey squealed.

Back at the police department, James was giving the officer his wallet, his dog tags; anything that was prohibited in juvy. Mr Moore watched heartbroken as the officer took them away. He couldn't believe that their lie was uncovered. He was meant to do his time for killing Renda. James was meant to go on to college and live his life. He had lived his. He was ready to go!

"Don't worry, pops. I'll be OK," James reassured him.

"My grandson going to jail is never OK," Mr Moore retorted, "You stay alive in there. You hear me?"

"You too. Don't be going downhill," James pleaded.

The duo then shared their final embrace. It would be ages before they would have moments like these again. When they broke their embrace, an officer prepared to take him to his cell. That was when Warrick stopped them.

"Hold on. James, the first couple of days are going to be the toughest. Here. Here's my cell number. If you run into any problems, you call me," Warrick instructed as he wrote his cell number on his hand, "I'll be right there. Alright? Keep your head up."

That was when the officer finally took him away. Warrick walked out at that moment. Mr Moore followed him.

"You didn't have to do that. Giving James your number. I've seen other law enforcement people in my day," Mr Moore started.

"My day? Reminds me of my grandmother," Warrick remarked, "Yeah. I gave her a lot of rough nights too. She used to call me her work in progress."

"Yeah. Well, she did something right," Mr Moore complimented him.

"Maybe," Warrick nodded in agreement before walking away from him.

Mr Moore was right. Warrick's grandmother did do something right. Look at where he is now: a successful CSI with the greatest friend in the world who are practically his family and a goddaughter who he absolutely adores who adores him in return. Things couldn't be better for him. And they would be too...

If it weren't for that dark cloud hovering above his head, the guilt coursing through him over his actions and the heavy weights on his shoulders.

* * *

><p><strong>OK, guys. I just realised that I can't do this on my own and I need someone to help me rewrite the seasons. So I'm gonna take on board a co-writer for this. Someone who will right every second season. So while I handle 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11, that co-writer will handle 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. I really need your help with this. So if you're interested in helping me, let me know in your reviews or PM me. You can even post it on your own accounts. Just makes sure you don't try to take Kady from me. Feel free to reference previous events involving Kady if you wish.<strong>

**Oh! Just a bonus thing, here's the age Kady will be in each season:**

**Season 1: 3-4  
><strong>**Season 2: 4-5  
><strong>**Season 3: 5-6  
><strong>**Season 4: 6-7  
><strong>**Season 5: 7-8  
><strong>**Season 6: 8-9  
><strong>**Season 7: 9-10  
><strong>**Season 8: 10-11  
><strong>**Season 9: 11-12  
><strong>**Season 10: 12-13  
><strong>**Season 11: 13-14**

**Kady will have her birthday roughly halfway or at the end of the season depending on dates and stuff. And yes. When she meets Jason in season 11, he'll be 17 going on 18 and she'll be 13 going on 14. So he's technically almost 5 years older than her. I know. Huge gap. It makes it even more dramatic. Don't you think?**

**Hasta la Vista, baby!**


	5. Pledging Mr Johnson

**Pledging Mr. Johnson: Grissom and Catherine are called in when a body is found in Lake Mead which later leads them to a case of adultry. Meanwhile, Nick and Sara investigate the apparent suicide of a fraternity student, but later discover it's a student pledge gone wrong.**

**Followed by Friends & Lovers: A victim dies of fear from being chased in the desert. Grissom and Warrick are called in to investigate. Nick and Catherine take on the case of a Catholic school dean who was brutally murdered, making Nick ponder about the best school for his intelligent daughter. Sara discovers a woman wrapped in plastic in a dumpster but is shocked to discover that the victim died of natural causes and was buried a week ago.**

**Then, Who Are You? Grissom and Nick are called in to investigate the skeleton of someone who was reported missing five years ago is found buried in concrete underneath a house. When Catherine's ex-husband, Eddie, is accused of raping a prostitute, Catherine takes on his case. When a cop is accused of murder, Warrick and Sara have to find the key piece of evidence: the bullet that killed the victim.**

**Later, Blood Drops: The Graveyard shift is called in to investigate when four members of a family a brutally murdered in their own home, leaving the two sisters the sole survivors. Upon first look, Grissom and his team suspect the family was a victim of a cult murder. But as new evidence is discovered, a disturbing story is exposed.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Anonymous  
><strong>**Unfriendly Skies  
><strong>**Sex, Lies and Larvae  
><strong>**I-15 Murders  
><strong>**Fahrenheit 932  
><strong>**Boom  
><strong>**To Halve and to Hold  
><strong>**Table Stakes  
><strong>**Too Tough to Die  
><strong>**Face Lift  
><strong>**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler (finale)**

**I own nothing aside from Kady. I STILL NEED HELP REWRITING SEASONS 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10! YOU'LL GET FULL CREDIT!**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>OK. I know you've heard me say this like a million times but Las Vegas is totally AWESOME! Hey! Look! Lake Mead! And look! There's two people looking for some nighttime fishing...well, trying to, anyways.<p>

"Ugh. These green worms ain't worth a damn," one man grumbled after another failed attempted to catch a fish.

Suddenly, they heard thudding from the underside of the boat. This sound spooked the men.

"What was that?" his mate demanded.

"I dunno. Probably some 8 foot carp," the first man shrugged carelessly.

His mate thought about for a second and agreed with the evaluation. But just when he began to relax and enjoy himself again, they could hear the thudding once more.

"Let's get out of here," he suggested as he went to activate the motor.

But found that he couldn't. Something was wrong. And these men didn't like it one bit. They've heard the stories of how people were stranded on their boat in the middle of a lake and something bad happens. Well, then again, who hasn't?

"Something's probably caught on the blades. Check the prop," his mate instructed.

"I'm not sticking my hand in that water," he retorted.

"Move out of the way," he sighed as he stuck his hand in the water and felt his way to the blade, "Yep. I got something."

He pulled it out. Much to the men's horror, the object that got stuck on their motor was a leg. But not just a leg. A human leg. And it wasn't fake.

"THROW IT BACK!" the man screamed.

"What the hell is this?" the man holding the leg wanted to know.

Moments later, the CSIs were on the job. Gil Grissom was examining the leg as Catherine Willows approached him sliding her latex gloves on. She had to admit. It was pretty strange. And she works with strange everyday!

"Femur. Strongest bone in the human body is sliced clean through," Catherine stated.

"Like a ginzu through a banana," Grissom remarked.

"So what do you think? Drowning?" Captain Brass asked as he approached them.

"Probably. But under what circumstances? You don't wear flippers to a five star restaurant. Why would you wear three inch heels in the lake?" Grissom questioned rhetorically, "So Watson, the game is afoot."

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Jorja Fox  
>Gary Dourdan<br>George Eads  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

Day has finally broken the curse of the night over Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the beginning of a new day, especially for our favourite CSIs. Ooooh. Nick Stokes shirtless. Hubba hubba. Sorry. I'll snap out of it now. Wait. Warrick Brown in a suit and tie? That's something you don't see everyday! Kady Stokes was also in the room. Up until her daddy was shirtless, she had a blindfold on.

"What do you think, bro? Breakfast on me?" Nick offered.

"I've got a court date. Straight off the Graveyard. It sucks," Warrick explained.

"Ouch," Kady remarked.

"Huh. You've trained her well," Warrick remarked as he ruffled her hair and adjusted his tie.

"Well, a tie and a half, a cup of Joe and you're all set," Nick reassured him, "I'm just in shock that you said no. You never deny an opportunity to spend time with Kady. Even more after the Holly Gribbs shooting."

"Well, this one can't be helped," Warrick stated.

"Fine suit. And...well, just fine," Sara Sidle complimented as she walked into the locker room, "And someone looks beautiful today."

"Thank you," Kady giggled.

"She takes after her mama," Warrick remarked.

"That's harrassment," Nick laughed as he slid his shirt on.

"Hey! We have one locker room and it's my job to be observant," Sara retorted.

"Alright. Evidence vault opens in five. See you guys later," Warrick said as he kissed Kady's head and walked out.

"Later, bro!" Nick called out to him.

"So, 419 you and me. Western LVU," Sara stated.

"Mmm-hmm. I know. A dead body at a fraternity. 7am. Looks like we're pulling another double," Nick sighed.

"I know. We don't have all day. Are you gonna wear that?" Sara asked as she referred to Nick's shirt.

"Yeah," Nick nodded.

"It's that hideous," Sara said.

"Hideous," Nick repeated.

"Hang on. Let me get someone to support that. Kady, do you like the shirt?" Sara questioned Kady.

"Uh-uh," Kady shook her head.

"Gee. Thanks, Sara. You just turned my baby girl against me," Nick joked as he unbuttoned his shirt and scooped his daughter into his arms, "Well, what do you think, butterfly? What do you think I should wear?"

"That one," Kady responded as she pointed to a blue shirt.

"Good choice," Nick complimented as he slid the shirt on.

"Right propeller. Clean cut straight through. No epidurmal bruising. The leg was severed postmortum," the coroner informed Catherine.

"Well, that's good news," Catherine remarked, "I figure if you're gonna be alive when your leg's cut off."

"I believe this goes with that," Grissom remarked as he wheeled a body in, "Divers recovered a body about half a mile east of Calville Marina."

"Female caucasion. Mid thirties. Left thigh bone connected to nothing. I believe this is our victim," the coroner agreed.

"She's wearing a wedding ring," Catherine announced.

"Will you collect a rape kit?" Grissom asked.

"Always do," the coroner responded as she examined her hand.

"How's it look for prints?" Grissom questioned.

"Her skin's shriveled like a Shar Pei. No pressure, no prints," she denied, causing Grissom to look at Catherine a certain way.

"No! No way! Use your own hand!" Catherine suggested.

"Come on, Catherine! My hand's too big!" Grissom begged.

"No!" Catherine still declined.

"It's the only way we can print her! Her skin on your hand should fit like a leather glove," Grissom stated as he went to remove the skin from the victim's hand, "May I take your hand?"

With a sigh, Catherine placed her hand with Grissom's. Holding their hands as though they were a married royal couple walking down the aisle, they approached the fingerprint scanner. Once they were there, Grissom slid the skin on Catherine's hand. Catherine cringed in disgust.

"On behalf of the descedant, I thank you," Grissom thanked as he began fingerprinting her, "I think we'll know who she is by lunchtime."

Catherine just groaned in disgust and went to remove the skin glove.

HEY! WLVU! COOL! Ooooooh...a fraternity house. Nicky here is going back in time here; back to his old fraternity days in college. I wonder what he did there...

"I can't believe I used to live in a place like this. Seems like a hundred years ago," Nick grumbled as he, Sara and Kady walked in.

"And here, I almost had respect for you," Sara remarked.

"Hey, guys. I'm Nick Stokes. This is Sara Sidle. We're from the Crime Lab," Nick introduced himself.

"Hey. I'm Matt Danials," Matt greeted as he shook Nick's hand.

"Hey, Matt," Nick responded.

"James is upstairs if you'll follow me," Matt told them as he guided them upstairs.

"Who's the kid?" a fraternity member asked.

"Sorry. This is my daughter, Kady. Couldn't find a babysitter," Nick told his famous lie.

"You didn't even bother-," Sara began saying.

"Zip it," Nick hissed to Sara as he gave her a certain look.

Once they walked inside the bedroom, they saw James dangling from a piece of rope tied to the fan. A detective was there jotting down notes in his notepad.

"Hey," Sara greeted.

"Hey," the guy responded, "Hey there, kid."

"Hi," Kady replied.

"Good God," Nick sighed.

"Did you see a suicide note?" Sara asked.

"We didn't find one," the detective informed her.

"Don't release those boys downstairs. I wanna talk to them. All of them," Sara instructed.

"Coroner pronounced?" Nick requested.

"20 minutes ago," the detective read.

"Let's get him down," Nick suggested as Sara began taking photos of their new crime scene.

"She's our floater. Wendy Barger. 34. Local. Green Valley," Catherine informed Grissom.

"We should contact her family," Grissom said.

"Already did. Talked to the husband. Never reported her missing," Catherine explained.

"The coroner said she'd been in the water for two days! Where's the husband now?" Grissom demanded.

"The coroner. ID'ing the body," Catherine responded.

"Hey. Results are back on the rape kit. Positive for semen. Vaginal penetration," the coroner announced.

"You're confirming rape?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Well, there's signs of a struggle. The victim's right shoulder is dislocated. Her skull is fractured. Give me a little more time with the body," she requested before walking away.

"Sure. Thanks, Jenna," Grissom thanked before walking into another room, "Mr Barger. My name is Gil Grissom."

"Hello," Winston Barger greeted.

"This is Catherine Willows," Grissom introduced.

"Hi," Catherine greeted.

"We're forensic investigators. Sit down," Grissom suggested before they sat in the nearby seats.

"We need to ask you a few questions," Catherine told him.

"Alright," Winston nodded.

"Is there anyone that you know that might have wanted to hurt your wife?" Catherine asked.

"No," Winston denied, "Everybody loved Wendy."

"When was the last time you saw her?" Grissom questioned.

"Tuesday morning. She needed some time away. To take perspective. She did that sometimes. We have a cabin out by Calville Bay," Winston explained, causing Catherine and Grissom to look at each other.

"And when was the last time you had intercourse with your wife?" Catherine quizzed curiously.

"Oh, that's personal," Winston refused to answer.

"It's part of our investigation, sir," Catherine said.

"Well, the average is once a week. Saturdays," Winston told them.

"Mr Barger-."

"Probably three or four months ago," Winston added.

"Would you be willing to give us a DNA sample, sir?" Grissom asked.

"What's going on?" Winston demanded, "I thought Wendy drowned!"

"We're still trying to piece it all together. A sample would be helpful," Catherine explained.

"By law, we need a warrent unless you're willing to volunteer it," Grissom piped in.

"Was James depressed?" Nick questioned Matt.

"You could say that," Matt shrugged.

"Could YOU say that?" Sara asked, "I mean, he's 18 years old. He's got his whole life ahead of him. Why would he wanna hang himself?"

"I don't know," Matt sighed, "He didn't get in."

"Get in?" Sara repeated confusedly.

"What does that mean?" Kady wanted to know.

"The fraternity. Pledging. I mean, it's not easy," Matt defended.

"Apparently not," Sara sighed.

"So, you guys let James know he wasn't getting in, right?" Nick summised.

"Yeah. I'm the one who let him know last night. I'm head of the pledging," a man explained.

"Big job? How did he take it?" Sara asked, earning a nod from the man.

"I think you know," Matt butted in.

"Well, duh. He off'd himself," Kady remarked, causing Nick's eyes to widen and his jaw to drop, the boys to howl and Sara to wear the same shocked expression as Nick.

"Kadelin Taylor Stokes, who taught you that language?" Nick demanded.

"They did," she responded as she pointed to Matt and the new guy, "And Uncle Greg. And you."

"Ooooh. She gotya there, Nick," Sara remarked.

"Now her I like," Matt laughed.

"She's three years old!" Nick reminded them.

Meanwhile, Warrick was approaching the County Courthouse with his evidence ready to go. Speak of the devil. Judge Culner stepped out of the courthouse. Great. What does he want now?

"Hey, judge. What's going on?" Warrick demanded, "We're due in your court."

"Called for a continuance," Judge Culner explained.

"Well, nobody told me," Warrick stated.

"Nobody was supposed to tell you. You're gonna do something for me," Judge Culner announced.

"Judge, I thought we were even. How much longer am I under your thumb?" Warrick wanted to know.

"You do what I ask, slate's clean and Kadelin stays with Nick. Henderson rape case. State evidence," Judge Colner said.

"Damn. I knew you were in tight," Warrick sighed.

"Judges aren't appointed on a whim. I owe the family. I need you to comprimise the chain of custody," Judge Culner announced.

"Just like that? We got a slam dunk on a three time rapist! And he's just gonna walk!" Warrick reminded him in disbelief.

"I have to have this case kicked," Judge Culner sighed as he began walking away.

"I'm already on probation!" Warrick explained.

"Give them an excuse. You're good at that. You work the Graveyard. You pulled a double. You're tired. It could happen to anybody. Don't worry. I got your back," Judge Culner reassured him before walking away.

"Yeah. I feel you back there. Believe me. And if you did, why did you have to use my goddaughter against me?" Warrick growled.

"It was the only way," Judge Culner sighed.

Greg was working some DNA evidence in the DNA lab. He turned the music up and began dancing and working at the same time. He also happened to do it just as Catherine and Grissom walked in. Catherine smiled and Grissom teasingly nodded his head to the music.

"Hey, mistro! What's the deal on our floater?" Grissom asked.

Greg didn't responded. Obviously, he's zoned out. It wasn't until Grissom turned the music off that he turned to face them.

"Excuse me! Professor! What's up with our floater?" Grissom repeated.

"Come over," Greg invited as he slid across the room to grab a file before heading to his computer.

"DNA's not a match," Catherine stated.

"13 markers and not one of them matches the husband's types," Greg added.

"That's funny. I'd like the husband for this," Grissom remarked.

"Oh, by the way, Greg, I'd like to have a talk to you about the language you've been using around my daughter and our goddaughter," Catherine smirked as she approached him.

"Uh, hehe, about that...oooh! I think that's my GC Mass Spec!" Greg lied nervously as he went towards it.

"Don't think you're getting out of this one, mister," Catherine shook her head.

"Uh, hehe...bye," Greg said as he ran out of there.

"Well, you were wrong. My client's been through too much distress," a lawyer said to Grissom, "Winston, come on." Ugh. Lawyers. Until you need one, you can't help but hate them. Especially if you work in law enforcement.

"When you find out what happened to my wife, I wanna know everything," Winston announced.

"I promise," Grissom swore.

"Let me ask you something. Would you wanna know?" Catherine asked as she grabbed her bag.

"You're asking the wrong guy," Grissom remarked.

"Barger's much as told us he and his wife were having problems," Catherine stated as they walked out, "She was staying at the lake. Wasn't the first time. And what do you think the chances are she was seeing somebody else?"

"You were married. You tell me," Grissom responded.

"Very good to excellent," Catherine commented.

Later at the evidence locker, Warrick was signing for a specific piece of evidence. That's right. He's gonna go through his instructions from Judge Culner. Or is he? But chances are he will. Kady's future is on the line here! He didn't even wanna think about what would happen to Nick if the two of them were seperated forever. Somehow, depression and suicide would be involved.

"I need to see the Henderson rape case 4217," Warrick requested.

"Sure. In here," the guy responded as he went inside and grabbed the box, "Just sign here."

"Thanks. Bye," Warrick nodded as the guy walked away.

His pen was hovering above the form. He was so tempted to sign it. But he couldn't. He didn't know what to do. At that moment, Grissom appeared.

"Hey. How was court?" Grissom questioned.

"Uh...the damn case was continued. Clerk never called," Warrick lied.

"Look. Go home. Take a day. You've been working your ass off," Grissom stated.

"Nature of the beast," Warrick shook his head.

"I'm greatful, Warrick. I'm glad you're back. And I owe you a party," Grissom remarked.

"A party?" Warrick repeated.

"Yeah. I made you CSI 3. It's in your next paycheck," Grissom announced, causing Warrick to laugh in joy.

"More money, more problems," Warrick chuckled, referring to his gambling addiction, "Thanks. I appreciate it."

At that moment, Grissom walked away. Warrick couldn't help but feel guilty once more. He still didn't know what to do. If he goes through with it, a three time rapist is going to walkaway. However, if he doesn't, Judge Culner would order Kady be taken away from her father never to be seen again. Dillemas, dillemas; don't you hate them?

"If Wendy Barger was sleeping around, none of her friends know about it," Brass remarked.

"Anyone seen her since Tuesday?" Catherine asked.

"No. And as far as I can tell, from the husband's reaction, he was happier in the marriage than she was," Brass commented.

"She had something on the side. I can tell you first hand. If you don't cheat, you don't suspect," Catherine quipped.

"Oh wow. I wish I had been married to you," Brass joked.

"Not a chance," Catherine smirked.

"Coroner just called. They're waiting for us," Grissom announced as he walked in.

"OK. Brass, you coming?" Catherine asked as she joined Grissom.

"I just thought I'd have a burger. Besides, I prefer live bodies," Brass laughed.

"Hey, Grissom. You got a second?" Warrick questioned Grissom, "Uh, I'm in purgatory. Need some guidance."

"Meet you at the car," Grissom said to Catherine.

With that, Catherine walked away towards the car while Grissom and Warrick headed towards his office.

"OK. Here's your frat boy. We have arpiticual haemorraging which is common with asphyxia," the coroner started.

"So he was asphixiated by hanging," Nick summised, "Are we ruling suicide?"

"No. Not yet. When a victim is found hung, we usually find teeth marks on the tongue," the coroner said as he showed them the tongue.

"No teeth marks," Sara stated.

"But we found him swinging from the ceiling," Nick recalled.

"So the question is: how did he get there?" Sara asked.

"Speaking of how did it get there: how did this get on his penis?" the coroner questioned as he showed them his...hmm-hmm, causing Nick to look away and clear his throat.

"Huh! Is that a tattoo?" Sara questioned.

"No. It looks like ink," the coroner corrected.

"Nick, Nick, you wanna take a look at this?" Sara offered.

"No, no. I...I don't have to look at it. I got a pretty good idea what this is all about so knock yourself out," Nick immediately declined before asking at the fraternity house, "Does your fraternity practice hazing?"

"No," Matt declined.

"It took a long time to Phi Alpha to get its charter. We have a strict no tollerance policy. And as president, I enforce that to the letter," Kyle explained.

"Come on, Matt. I was a Greek. We had all kinds of policies. Guys still hazed," Nick scoffed before covering Kady's ears for the next bit.

"We found ink on James' penis. Are you trying to tell us he was just practicing his penmanship?" Sara asked in disbelief.

"State passed a law. No hazing," Kyle reminded them.

"That's six months in jail plus expulsion. We do not haze. But, you know, there is an initiation," Kyle added.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Pledges, turn and face your active chapter," Kyle requested before all the pledges – including James – did so, "Over the past couple of weeks, you guys have accumulated points. Some of you are way ahead. Some of you are way behind. It's time to get signed!"_

_Everyone cheered as soon as Kyle said that...well, everyone except the pledges who just looked nervous.  
><em>_End flashback_

"I could tell right off the bat James was nervous, you know? He's kind of a shy guy. I mean, he wanted to pledge. He wanted to belong," Kyle explained.

"Yeah. He wanted to belong. But you know what? I questioned his props. I think we all did," Matt added, causing Nick to clear his throat.

"So yeah. We gave the pledges an assignment. They were to go to sorority row and get different parts of their body signed," Kyle went on, causing Nick to smile, shake his head and shake his throat once more.

"I mean, it was pretty straightforward. Arms and legs: five points. Ten points for your chest. Twenty-five points for your butt-cheeks. And a hundred points for your Johnson," Matt smirked.

"Your Johnson?" Sara repeated confusedly.

"Yeah. You know, you're uh...I'm not gonna say it in front of my daughter," Nick decided.

"I know what it is," Sara reassured him before turning to Matt and Kyle, "Don't stop now."

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_And Johnson! Your sorry ass is so far behind in the points that you better get your Johnson signed a couple of hundred times or you're history," Kyle said to James before squeezing his 'Johnson' walking away.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Kyle caught him cheating in the bathroom," Matt explained.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_He was signing himself," Kyle announced before pouring his drink on poor James...which got everyone else started._

"_WHAT A FAKE!" one of them exclaimed.  
><em>_End flashback_

"You humuliate him in front of all the other actives, poor kid was so scared, he had to sign himself; you give him a beer shower? And you don't call that hazing!" Sara asked in disbelief.

"Answer the question, guys," Nick demanded harshly.

"Daddy, can you uncover my ears, please?" Kady asked.

"Not yet, baby girl," Nick shook his head as he kept one hand over her ear and nestled her against his chest.

"I had no choice! I had to ding him!" Matt defended.

"I mean, come on. You're only as strong as your weekest link," Kyle added, "We didn't pledge him! He pledged us! He knew what to expect if he didn't measure up!"

"Humiliation initiation. Appreciation," Nick sighed.

"That's what it's all about. Right? Right? We're sorry. But we didn't kill him," Matt defended.

"I don't buy it," Sara said.

"Hey, Judge. Warrick. Listen, um, I got a little problem. No. I can't talk about it over the phone. We gotta meet in person. There's something in the evidence I think you should see. Good," Warrick spoke into the phone before hanging up.

"I'll start at the top. Head contusion; right temple. Imbedded with wood splinters, lime green paint," Jenna started.

"What does that give us?" Catherine asked.

"Nothing yet. But when you find the murder weapon, it might give you something to compare it against. Moving down. Three words. Write it down. Minimal Pulmary Asperation," Jenna annonced.

"There was no water in her lungs?" Grissom asked in disbelief.

"All I'm saying is if she died by drowning, her lungs would be flooded. But her lungs weren't flooded," Jenna explained.

"So you think she was raped, killed, then dumped in the lake," Grissom summised.

"After a very nice dinner. Which brings me to her stomach. Fried calomari. And based on the extent of her digestion, she died about three hours after she ate," Jenna continued.

And that is how Grissom and Catherine ended up approaching a very nice restaurant by the marina. There happened to be a pair of girlfriends gossiping and giggling over steaming plates of fried calomari.

"Now tell me. Why are we here?" Catherine demanded her boss as they walked towards the fornt steps.

"Because it's the only place within ten miles of Calville Bay that serves calomari," Grissom explained.

"And you know this because?" Catherine pressed.

"I come here for calomari," Grissom responded.

"Alone?" Catherine gasped in disbelief.

"No. Sometimes I have beer with it. But never when I have Kady with me," Grissom defended.

"Do you recognise this woman?" Catherine asked a waitress.

"She might have eaten here Tuesday night around this time," Grissom added.

"Ordered the calomari," Catherine piped in.

"Miss, everyone orders calomari," she retorted.

"Well, I don't care about everyone. I care about her," Catherine told her.

"Uhh...yeah. Yeah. I remember her. She came in with a guy. Regular. Good tipper," the waitress recalled.

"Do you remember this good tipper's name?" Grissom questioned.

"Mr Swelco, are you alright?" Catherine asked worriedly when night fell upon Las Vegas.

"I can't believe she's dead," Mr Swelco sobbed.

"Could you tell us about your affair with Wendy?" Grissom requested.

"I barely knew we had one," Mr Swelco defended.

"What about your wife?" Grissom questioned.

"We seperated and we filed for divorce last week. I thought Wendy was going to do the same thing," Mr Swelco moaned.

"And when she didn't, you got angry?" Catherine assumed.

"No. No. That's not what I meant. I loved Wendy. She said the marriage was over and she... It's just that she was scared," Mr Swelco defended.

"Scared? Why?" Catherine wanted to know.

"She didn't wanna hurt Winston. She thought if she left, he'd break," Mr Swelco sniffled.

"Tuesday night, you and Wendy had dinner at The Grill. Where did you go after that?" Grissom asked.

"We went back to the marina in her car and we took the outport back here," Mr Swelco answered.

"Why did you take the boat?" Grissom pressed.

"Wendy didn't want anybody to see her car in my driveway so we always meet at the marina and we would take the outport over here," Mr Swelco explained.

"What happened when she got here?" Catherine quizzed.

"We made love. Then she left. Took the boat back," Mr Swelco recalled.

"Where is the boat?" Grissom asked.

"At the marina," Mr Swelco replied.

"You believe him?" Catherine asked her boss as they walked away.

"I believe he had an affair," Grissom answered before they noticed Winston standing on the road approaching the cabin.

"Is that the husband?" Catherine questioned.

"Mr Barger, what are you doing here?" Grissom demanded.

"You didn't call. So I followed you," Winston responded, "This is Phil Swelco's house, isn't it?"

"Do you know Mr Swelco?" Grissom asked.

"Informally. Does he have something to do with Wendy's death?" Winston demanded.

"We're interviewing a lot of people. A lot of it's just following up," Catherine answered.

"Mr Barger, this is a time where you oughta let us do our job. You've been through a terrible ordeal. We promised to keep you posted and I promise we WILL keep you posted," Grissom swore.

"I just wanted to see if you had anything new," Winston defended.

"As soon as we know, you'll know," Catherine promised.

"Alright," Winston nodded before walking away.

"Drive safely!" Grissom called to him.

"You know, eventually, we're gonna have to tell this guy that his wife was having an affair with somebody he knows," Catherine stated.

"No we don't, Catherine. We have to tell him how his wife died. Just the facts without all the other stuff," Grissom butted in.

"If Eddie was cheating on me, I sure wished somebody would have said something. And I'm sure if Abigail were still alive, Nick and Abigail would want somebody to tell them if one's cheating on the other," Catherine remarked.

"You mean me," Grissom assumed.

"Who else?" Catherine agreed.

AAAAAAH! A TARANCHULA SPIDER! Sorry. I'm slightly arachnophobic. hehe Anyways, Grissom was examining his pet taranchula trapped in its container. When he heard a knock on the door, he looked up and saw Catherine standing there.

"New pet?" Catherine guessed as she walked in.

"The African Red Babboon Taranchula. The most feared of all arachnids. But basically harmless," Grissom introduced.

"Yeah. Well, just keep the lid on it, OK? And don't have it out around Kady. She's arachnophobic," Catherine warned.

"I thought Kady was claustrophobic," Grissom confessed.

"She's both," Catherine informed him.

"Hey! You scared him! All his hair's standing up!" Grissom stated.

"Uh, if you're through with your soul fight, I have some news on the boat," Catherine announced.

"Was it at the marina?" Grissom wanted to know.

"What do you think?" Catherine asked him.

"My spider sense says it wasn't," Grissom confessed.

"Right. We need to find the boat," Catherine said.

Nick and Kady: _The little caterpillar crawled up into a tree,  
><em>_Spun his cocoon and slept so quietly.  
><em>_All through the winter, he didn't make a sound.  
><em>_He dreamt of his new life when he'd be flying around.  
><em>_While he was sleeping the snow did gently fall.  
><em>_Winter came and went. Then he heard the robin's call,  
><em>"_Come on, Mr Butterfly, out of your cocoon.  
><em>_Spread your wings and fly for me while I sing my tune."_

**(Me: And no. I did not write that. I found it online. Someone named Kathi wrote the song. It's sung to the tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider. Jason: Why did you pick that one out of the millions of nursery rhymes in the world? Me: Well, Kady likes butterflies and Nick's special nickname for her is butterfly. So it kinda ties in with that. Me and Jason: LEGGO!)** Yes. Nick and Kady are back at the lab singing a nursery rhyme together. They're in the breakroom while Nick prepares lunch. Kady was sitting on the bench near the microwave in front of Nick. They didn't notice Sara walk in while they were singing.

"Coroner's prelim in the frat hanging," Sara sing-songed as she walked in, "That was pretty good, you two. Kady has an amazing voice."

"Thank you," Kady thanked.

"Bust it out," Nick requested.

"What's that smell?" Sara wanted to know.

"I'm nuking a burrito and making Kady's lunch," Nick explained as he gave Kady her juice, "Here you go, honey."

"Mmmm. Junk food and radiation: good combo," Sara remarked, causing Nick to chuckle.

"You want one, Aunty Sara?" Kady asked.

"No thank you, honey. Thanks for the offer," Sara kindly declined before opening the report, "Should I say this in front of Kady?"

"I don't understand it," Kady confessed.

"And yet you understand Uncle Greg's bad words," Nick scoffed in disbelief as he handed her lunch to her and kissing her head saying, "Geez. You're killing me, kid."

"That's her job, Nick," Sara smirked before reading the report out loud, "A strip of law cat's liver was found lodged inside the cleft of the victim's throat. Cause of death: choking."

"Gross!" Kady exclaimed whilst screwing her face.

"That's interesting," Nick remarked as he watched Kady carefully.

"Microscopic bits of fabric were found inbedded in the liver," Sara added.

"That would be MY lunch," Nick remarked as he sat Kady on a chair and grabbed his burrito.

"Hey. I have a question for you. It's been bugging me since I joined the team," Sara started, "Who's Abigail? Everyone talks to her and no one tells me who she is when I ask."

Nick's smile disappeared. Even though it's been three years since she died, he still finds it hard sometimes. How he was left to raise his daughter on his own. How he would be barely able to enjoy his daughter's birthday because it reminded him of the number of years its been since she died. Sara noticed the sad look on his face and regretted her bluntness.

"Look. If it's hard to talk about, you don't have to," Sara reassured him.

"Abigail was an intern here at the lab and...my wife. I met in an elevator on her first day of the job. We became close friends and six months later, I was in love with her. I didn't tell her until a month later when she was shot during an arrest. I didn't ask her officially until a month later. Six months later, at a sponsers gala, I proposed to her. We were married six months later. That was the best day of my life. 14 months later, she was pregnant. When I found out we were having a little girl...I was litreally in tears. Then on Kady's birthday, Abby and Catherine went shopping for baby clothes. Abby was still pregnant at the time. They were hit head on by a drunk driver. The car crashed on Abby's side. She had a lot of injuries. The doctors knew she wasn't going to make it. She had an emergency c-section and died not long after Kady was born," Nick explained with tears in her eyes.

"Daddy, don't cry," Kady pleaded as she walked in front of him.

Nick smiled tearfully and pulled his daughter into his lap. She wiped the tears from his eyes. Sadly, that didn't help much. He just held her against his chest and cried into his shoulder. Sara smiled sadly at the sight. This beautiful little girl is all her friend has left of his late wife. The bond between the two is magical. Sara would have killed to have that with her parents.

"I love you, baby girl," Nick whispered against her.

"I love you too, daddy," Kady responded.

"I'm sorry," Sara apologised.

"It's OK," Nick reassured her, "I really miss her. But I just can't sit back and remember the past. Especially with this little one around."

"Is that why you always have her with you? On cases and everything?" Sara assumed.

"I can't bear being seperated from her. Kady is my baby. She's my life. I want to spend every moment with her. Before I know it, she'll be off to school, then college and then, I'll be walking her down the aisle and watching her have her own family. I don't wanna miss a thing," Nick explained.

"Hey. We have suspects to interrogate. I'm sure Warrick will be happy to look after her for you," Sara said.

"Warrick loves Kady more than anything in the entire world. He'll be thrilled," Nick laughed.

"Microscopic fabric? I have no idea what you're talking about. You just lost me," Kyle confessed.

"Kyle, I'm getting that hazing feeling," Nick sing-songed.

"Did you stuff him? Suffocate him? Shove towels down his throat?" Sara questioned.

"No! Look, lady, I have no idea where you're going with all this! But you're way off!" Kyle scoffed.

"Tell me about the liver," Nick demanded.

"What about the liver?" Kyle wanted to know.

"Kyle, Kyle, 11 years ago, I was you, man. Smoking cigars in closets, play in tanks, I wore trout in my jean pocket for seven days till my leg went half numb. I've been there. So don't tell me, 'What about it?'" Nick pleaded.

"OK. James begged us for one more shot. So we came up with a challenge: swallowing raw liver," Kyle started.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Kyle took the liver from the container and fed it to James. Matt and Kyle watched intently. Before they could even blink, James began choking and dying in front of their eyes. It freaked them out._

"_Oh man. Oh man. He's choking!" Kyle realised._

"_Give him the Heimlich! Give him the Heimlich!" Matt instructed immediately, taking charge of the situation._

_They then proceeded to give him the Heimlich to remove the lodged piece of liver in his throat._

"_HE'S TURNING BLUE!" Matt stated.  
><em>_End flashback_

"How does a kid choke to death and end up hanging from the rafter?" Sara demanded.

Kyle paused for a minute and glanced at the facial expressions Sara and Nick were giving him. How they were watching him intently, waiting for his answer. With a sigh, he finally spilled the beans...or so they thought,

"OK. We freaked. We had a lot to lose here. We could lose our charter or get kicked out of school or even go to jail. So me and Matt, we strung him up and made it look like he committed suicide."

"You do realise you just admitted to killing him?" Sara questioned.

"We didn't kill him! It was an accident!" Kyle defended.

"It was an accident. But now it's beginning to look like Christmas," Sara remarked.

"Look. My dad's a top defence attorney. So if charges are filed-."

"Don't worry. There will be," Nick reassured him angrily whilst trying to restrain himself.

"It will be manslaughter. Not murder. And me and Matt wind up with community service," Kyle told them.

"And, just for the record, you wouldn't have anything to lose until you have a little girl who depends on her father to look after her since her mother's dead!" Nick snapped.

"Calm down, Nick," Sara soothed him.

"We can hold him for manslaughter," Nick sighed begrudgingly as he and Sara walked the hallways.

"Manslaughter? Are you kidding? Are you willing to settle for that? Come on! You know as well as I do that there's more to this!" Sara scoffed in disbelief.

"We're going 180 miles an hour in second gear here! Let's just slow down, alright?" Nick suggested as they came to a stop.

"This coming from the guy who might as well have blown up when it comes to having something to lose!" Sara retorted.

"He had to be told! College kids; they don't know what they have to lose until they lose it! Now, I've already lost Abby! And I don't wanna lose Kadelin! No. I CAN'T lose Kadelin!" Nick threw back.

"OK. Let's just. Let's just calm down," Sara suggested as they breathed slowly and heavily.

"They said they performed the Heimlich, right?" Nick recalled once they were calm.

"I don't believe them," Sara confessed.

"Well, if they performed the Heimlich, there'd be evidence of trauma," Nick stated.

"Yes there would," Sara agreed.

"Well, you're right. If the frat boy was given the Heimlich, chances are we'd find a broken rib," the coroner said as they examined the x-ray.

"Not even a fracture," Nick sighed.

"What about abdominal or thorasic bruising?" Sara pressed.

"Nope. Photos are all negative," the coroner announced.

"They lied. When this kid was choking, no one tried to help him," Sara realised.

"Take a look at this," the coroner requested as he got the evidence up on his computer, "Now, we magnified Mr Johnson's privates. The ink is from a felt tip. It's a PaperMax Thin Tip, to be exact."

"Jill W. Two triangles," Sara read.

"That's two deltas. Greek letters. She's a delt," Nick corrected.

"Freaks," Sara sighed.

"Jill, we need to ask you a question. Is this your signature?" Nick asked Jill as he showed her the photo of her signature on James' hmm-hmm.

"Oh my God!" Jill laughed, "Where did you get that?"

"Where do you think?" Sara smirked.

"You don't think this has something to do with what happened," Jill scoffed.

"We don't know yet. That's what we're trying to find out. How well did you know James?" Nick questioned.

"He was pledging my boyfriend's house. We're Greek. I mean, we sign them, they sign us," Jill explained.

"Of course you do," Sara nodded knowingly.

"Who's your boyfriend?" Nick wanted to know.

"Kyle Travis," Jill answered.

Immediatley, Nick began clearing his throat. That was when he decided one thing: when Kady goes to college, she's never joining a sororiety. Now they were back in the fraternity house cutting the forensic tape from James' room so they could go in and look for things they missed. They opened the door and began their investigation.

"OK. We're looking for fibres," Sara reminded her friend.

"Yeah. Fibres, liver; anything to implicate these guys," Nick added.

They searched the beds, the tables, the drawers, laundry; nothing. But when they started searching the trash, they found something interesting. They found a twine noose...with blood.

"What the heck is that?" Sara demanded as Nick held it up.

"The murder weapon. Dingle dangle," was his answer.

"Let me guess. Radiohead or Rage Against the Machine," Warrick remarked as he walked up to his friend with his young sleeping goddaughter in one hand and a cup of coffee in his other hand.

"Actually, it's an audiobook on Restrictions of Analysis on DNA Typing. Piecing of Fingerprinting. Joys!" Greg practically squealed before turning to Kady and kissing her cheek, "Awwww. She's such a cutie when she's asleep."

"She's also cute when she's awake and don't say anything different," Warrick threatened.

"What's Grissom doing in the garage?" Greg asked as he saw Grissom setting up a replica of Lake Mead.

"He's working that Wendy Barger case. You know, the floater? Only clue he's got is a missing boat. Which sucks cause it's missing," Warrick explained.

"He thinks he's gonna find it in a bathtub?" Greg laughed.

"It's a simulation tank. He's recreating the conditions of the night she died on the lake. Body was dumped about a half mile from Calville Bay. And they think the boat must have drifted with the currents," Warrick explained.

"And let me guess: Catherine got bored?" Greg assumed.

"Well, you know Grissom. Shortest distance between two points is science. And for Catherine, it's pounding the pavement," Warrick remarked.

"Hey. I thought Grissom gave you the night off," Greg recalled.

"Yeah. Something came up," Warrick lied, "Hey. Can you look after Kady till Nick or I get back?"

"Of course. She's my goddaughter too, you know. I love her as much as you and Nick do. If not, more!" Greg stated as he took Kady into his arms.

"No one loves her as much as me and Nick," Warrick retorted before kissing Kady's cheek, "See ya."

Inside the garage, Grissom was arranging everything in perfect order. He set the motors up and everything. Catherine was walking through the water searching for that missing boat! Grissom turned on the fan to represent the wind the night Wendy died. Catherine continued her search for the boat. So far, she couldn't find it. Don't you hate it when that happens? Grissom was going through his boat collection for the perfect replica of Wendy's boat. At long last, he found one. Catherine was still searching for the life-sized version of the boat. She is still unlucky in her search. Grissom placed the boat in the water and pushed it aloft. He looked at the pieces of paper he had stuck nearby. Catherine was at another location near Calville Bay and Lake Mead searching for that damn boat! When she saw something, she looked through her nightvision binoculars. EUREKA! SHE FOUND IT! Immediately, she whipped her cell phone out and called Grissom.

"Yeah. Grissom," Grissom immediately answered his incoming call.

"_It's me. I found it. _Just south of Baring Point Bridge," Catherine announced.

"How?" Grissom demanded in amazement.

"I took a walk," Catherine smirked.

"Just south of Baring Point Bridge," Grissom repeated, "What colour's the boat?"

"_It's white with lime green trimming_ just like the splinters we found in Wendy's head wound," Catherine answered smugly.

"Well done, Catherine. Well done. _Let's get the boat back to the garage._"

With that, Grissom hung up. He looked down at his experiment and saw that the boat DID end up at Baring Point Bridge. Show-off. Meanwhile, Warrick was sitting at a bench in the park. In the shadows, a figure was walking towards him briskly. Underneath the light, this person was revealed to be Judge Culner. Hasn't he caused enough trouble for Warrick? Apparently not.

"This better be good," Judge Culner threatened.

"I need some assurances," Warrick announced as he stood up and shoved his hands in his pocket.

"It's a two-way street, pal. Have you done what I asked?" Judge Culner asked him impatiently.

"I checked out the evidence. Yeah. But I'm not sure about the rest," Warrick said.

"What's the big deal? You break the C on the evidence box, it's over. And Kadelin gets to stay with her daddy. We put it to bed. I tell Henderson. Mission accomplished," Judge Culner promised.

"Why don't you let me do that?" Warrick suggested as he gave the signal.

On cue, sirens started blaring and police officers began flooding around Warrick and Judge Culner. And look who was leading the way: Captain Brass. Well, Warrick did say no one threatens his goddaughter and gets away with it when this whole business between started, did he not?

"What's going on here?" Judge Culner demanded in obvious frustration.

"Judge Culner, you're under arrest for obstruction of justice, tampering with state's evidence and violating seven articles of scumbag," Brass announced as the not-so-honourable judge was handcuffed by a uniformed officer.

He turned to face Warrick in anger. Warrick just lifted the front of his shirt to reveal a wire and a tape recorder taped to his well-built chest.

"I told you. Nobody owns me. Also, nobody threatens my goddaughter and gets away with it," Warrick reminded him.

"You're just lucky it's us instead of her father. You'd be dead by now if he knew about this. Move on," Brass growled before Judge Culner was taken away, "Nick work, Brown."

With that, Brass followed the officers who were taking Judge Culner to their cars to be taken in custody. Warrich just stood there sighing in relief. It's over now. He was no longer under Judge Culner's control and Kady gets to stay with her kick-ass father. What more could he ask for?

"Hey, Grissom," Greg greeted as he walked in with Kady in his arms, "I hear Catherine beat you to the boat."

"We work as a team! We're not competing!" Grissom scoffed, "Hey there, alligator."

"Hi," Kady grinned.

"OK," Greg sighed as he took a miniture tub of ice cream from the fridge, "But she found it first, right?"

"Two roads diverged in yellow wood. And sorry I could not travel both," Grissom recited.

"Robert Frost," Greg and Kady realised.

"Very good, children. But actually, in this case, Mr Frost does not apply. When you have a partner, you each take a road. That's how you find a missing boat," Grissom corrected.

"Come on. Level with me," Greg pleaded as he fed Kady some of his chocolate ice cream, "Who do you think killed her? The husband or the boyfriend?"

"You've narrowed it down to just two suspects?" Grissom stated in surprise.

"Actually, you did. During my second week in CSI, you told me that when a cheating spouse is murdered, there's always two suspects at the top of the list: the lover and the betrayed," Greg recalled as he took a bite of his ice cream before feeding some more to Kady.

"I told you this?" Grissom repeated in disbelief, only to have Greg nod in agreement in front of him.

"You see, I think that the husband caught Wendy with her boyfriend. And when she left his house, he killed her in a jealous rage," Greg smiled to his boss.

"You actually think this is cool?" Kady asked Greg.

"No I don't," Greg immediately answered her.

"And this theory is based on?" Grissom pressed as he stood up.

"Nothing. I'm just trying to help," Greg shrugged.

"I'm going to the garage to meet Catherine. You keep thinking, Butch. That's what you're good at," Grissom remarked.

"Hey! If this theory checks out, maybe we should talk about a raise," Greg suggested hopefully.

"Yeah," Grissom scoffed before kissing Kady on the cheek, "See you later, alligator!"

"See you in a tad...pole!" Kady responded, causing Greg and Grissom to laugh out loud.

The boat is in the basement. Grissom and Catherine are examining said boat. Catherine suddenly noticed something.

"I think I found some skin," Catherine announced, "Where Wendy hit her head. Did you hear what I said?"

"Blood," Grissom suddenly said.

"Blood?" Catherine repeated, "No. You heard the autopsy. Head trauma wasn't a bleeder."

"Maybe she fought back. Either way, we gotta call Brass. Tell him to bring the boyfriend in," Grissom instructed as he snapped loads of photos of the blood stain along the inside of the boat.

"Could you wait right here please? Stay with Mr Swelco," Brass instructed an officer before approaching Grissom and Catherine with a sigh.

"How's it going?" Grissom asked.

"Oh, you know, the usual bip bap bop. You know? Guy said he cut his hand cleaning fish. Got a tetanus shot. That's his excuse for the blood we found on the boat. But I'll call the lake clinic to confirm," Brass explained.

"Damn. You're good," Catherine complimented.

"Oh shut up. Let's get in with him," Brass remarked before walking back to Mr Swelco.

"Phil? Phil Swelco?" Winston asked as he appeared at the doors.

"Winston. I heard about your wife. I'm sorry," Mr Swelco apologised.

"What are you doing here? Why are you questioning him?" Winston demanded.

"Mr Barger, why don't you come over here with me," Catherine suggested as she approached him.

"Mr Swelco, why don't we go in here and sit down?" Grissom said as he guided Mr Swelco into interrogation.

"Come have a seat," Catherine instructed Winston as they took a seat each side by side.

"I always knew she was seeing someone. I just didn't know who," Winston confessed.

"I'm sorry," Catherine sighed in apology.

"She was having an affair with Phil Swelco and you think he killed her," Winston realised.

"You just comprimised our investigation!" Grissom yelled at Catherine hours later.

"He deserved to know the truth!" Catherine retorted.

"Knowing how she died: yes! Knowing that she had an affair: how does that bring closure?" Grissom demanded.

"Griss, I have been at the wrong end of an affair to understand!" Catherine reminded him.

"You can't make this about Eddie! Look, you hurt our case because your ex hurt you," Grissom accused.

"We bring ourselves to cases! We can't help it! I knew how Barger felt! Would you just relax? I didn't give him chapter and verse!" Catherine shouted before walking away.

"You can't give him anything, Catherine! We're scientists! Not psycharitrists or victim rights advocists!" Grissom called after her as he followed her.

"You're right. You know, I should be just like you. Alone in my harmonically sealed condo watching Discovery on the big screen! Working genius-level crosswords puzzles! But no relationships! No chance any will slop over into a case! Right! I wanna be just like you!" Catherine sneered, but not oblivious to Grissom's hurt expression.

"Technically, it's a townhouse," Grissom corrected, "And the crosswords are advanced, not genius. And I'm not alone when I have OUR goddaughter with me. But you're right. I'm deficient in a lot of ways. But I never screw up one of my cases with personal stuff!"

"Grissom, what personal stuff?" Catherine demanded.

"Matt, I gotta know. How much did it tick Kyle off?" Nick asked in interrogation.

"What are you talking about?" Matt questioned.

"Jill," Nick defined before laughing, "Man. Kyle must have been steamed. His girlfriend signs a pledge's privates!"

"Yeah. Kyle can take a joke," Matt reassured them.

"Didn't think it was funny enough to share with us. You know, I've never met a guy who could just laugh this off," Sara remarked.

"Hey, Matt. You know why I joined a fraternity? Because I wanted to belong to something. The brotherhood. That's what it was all about for me. You know what I mean? So I'mma cut to the chase here, bud. You come clean, you might be able to save your house, save the brotherhood. But if you don't," Nick started.

"You and Kyle will get charged with murder and the house goes dark," Sara continued.

"Everything you tried to protect; you'll destroy," Nick finished, "Matty, I found the string. Now are you ready to tell us what happened after James got back to that house?"

"OK," Matt sighed.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_OK! Let's see what Johnson gave up!" Matt suggested._

_The guys howled like mad werewolves while James stood there with a smug smirk on his face. He undid his pants and slid them to the ground along with his boxers. It got even worse when he flashed his signed hmm-hmm to them. The howling got worse. But Kyle was not impressed at all._

"_Dude, it's your girlfriend. She signed it!" Matt announced._

"_Meet me upstairs, pledge," Kyle instructed._

_And that's what led Kyle and James upstairs in the bedroom with the twine noose and the raw liver. Uh-oh. This will not be good at all..._

"_You're still behind in points! So this is what we're gonna do! I'm gonna put this down your throat, you're gonna swallow it and you're gonna trust me to pull it back out. OK," Kyle explained._

_He then held the liver above James' open mouth. Once the liver was in his mouth, James swallowed it. Then he started choking. Kyle just yanked the noose out of his mouth and watched him as he slowly choked to death because of him. Moments later, Matt walked in smiling. However, when he saw James sitting on the ground dead, his smile immediately vanished._

"_Oh. Oh, this is crazy," Matt remarked._

"_Alright. Alright. Alright. Listen to me. Anything goes down, my father will bail out the chapter. Now you're just gonna follow my lead and you're gonna keep your mouth shut," Kyle told him.  
><em>_End flashback_

When the story was finished, Matt was gasping and restin his head against the cool metal table. Sara just looked at him with a certain expression gracing her features. Nick just sighed and shook his head. Moments later, Kyle was getting a visit to his cell. But it wasn't who he was expecting. It was Sara Sidle and Nick Stokes themselves.

"Is my dad here yet?" Kyle asked.

"Nope. But when he gets here, you can tell him you're charged with first degree murder," Sara announced, causing Kyle to bolt upright.

"No way. Come on. That's ridiculous," Kyle scoffed.

"Your boy rolled over on you, slick," Nick sneered.

"One thing about the fraternity upstate: the brotherhood's fantastic," Sara remarked sarcastically.

"Oh yeah. They're gonna love you," Nick agreed just as sarcastically.

"Oh! By the way, what you said before about not knowing you have a lot to lose until you lose it? You were right. We don't know until it's taken from you. But what do you have to lose?" Kyle wanted to know.

"Don't you remember his outburst in interrogation? His wife is dead and he has to take care of a three-year-old baby girl on his own. You should see the relationship they share. Oh my goodness. It's rare and magical. Many parents would kill to have that kind of relationship with their children. And he almost lost her before she was even born. Everybody around here loves her like crazy; including me. I love that little girl as if she was my own child. She's the most beautiful child in the world. And trust me. She is someone you don't want taken away from you," Sara bragged before she and Nick left him behind.

"Did you mean what you said? About you loving Kady as if she was your own child?" Nick asked Sara.

"That's something I don't lie about, Nick. Besides, it's hard not to love Kadelin," Sara retorted.

"Hey. I was wondering. I've been meaning to make some updates in my will for a little while. Even though Kady was born three years ago, I haven't found the time to change to will so I leave everything to Kady. And when I list her godparents, I wanna list Brass, Greg, Grissom and Warrick as her godfathers and you and Catherine as her godmothers. Is that OK?" Nick wanted to know.

"We haven't known each other that long," Sara reminded him.

"I see how you are with Kady during the breaks. You're like another mother to her. You love her like she's your own child. You'd be perfect," Nick gushed.

"OK. I am honoured to be one of Kadelin's godparents," Sara nodded in agreement.

"YES!" Nick cheered in joy about finally getting his wish.

"She ran out of gas," Grissom announced as he and Catherine examined the boat.

"OK," Catherine responded confusedly.

"Get in the boat. Pull the engine cord," Grissom instructed.

"What?" was all Catherine said.

"Get in the boat," Grissom repeated.

"Why?" Catherine demnaded.

"Just indulge me. Please," Grissom begged his friend.

"There's no gas. It's not gonna start," Catherine reminded him.

"But that's not the point," Grissom retorted.

"Just as long as there is one," Catherine sighed as she climbed into the boat.

She placed one foot on the edge of the boat near the motor. She placed both hands on the motor: one on the engine and one on the actual cord. She pulled it once. The boat failed to start.

"Push it again," Grissom requested.

And so she did with a few grunts. With Grissom's encouragement, she kept going. But she got the same result everytime. The boat refused to start. After a little while, Catherine just gave up.

"OK. That's it. What's your point?" Catherine demanded in frustration.

"How does your shoulder feel?" Grissom asked.

"It's sore," Catherine sighed before realising his point, "You already knew that."

"I know what happened to Wendy. She says goodnight to Swelco and gets in the boat. Halfway home, the boat runs out of gas. Strandard in the middle of the lake, she panics. Starts pulling on the engine cord. Pulling so hard, she dislocates her shoulder and falls forward. Wendy goes under where she remains until the barge's propellor severes her leg. She died before she ever hit the water," Grissom explained.

"It was an accident," Catherine realised.

"Well, sometimes it's about what didn't happen," Grissom remarked.

"Well, I guess we'd better go talk to the husband," Catherine sighed, "Unless you think I'm going to comprimise the integrity of the case again."

"Look. Could we have a truce?" Grissom pleaded.

"I would love to," Catherine agreed.

"Good," Grissom sighed in relief as he helped her down from the boat, "Besides, what would have happened if Nick suddenly died and our arguing drives us away from Kadelin? But let me do the talking to the husband and the boyfriend."

"He had to say it," Catherine mumbled as she retrieved her jacket.

"Hey!" Warrick called to Grissom when he saw them.

"I'll meet you outside, OK?" Grissom whispered to Catherine.

"OK. Hey, Warrick," Catherine greeted quickly before walking away.

"Hey, Cath," Warrick returned.

"Did it go OK?" Grissom immediately asked.

"Yeah. Fine. Thanks for letting Brass handle it," Warrick thanked.

"Well, the fewer people that know about this, the better...especially Nick. If he found out, Judge Culner will never make it to the courtroom and Nick will end up in jail got murder," Grissom remarked, causing the two of them to laugh, "I'm proud of you, Warrick. You know, Judge Culner has got a lot of soldiers."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Warrick sighed.

"You know, I can only help you so much. After that, it's up to you," Grissom told him.

"Yeah. I know," Warrick nodded before Grissom walked away.

Day has broken over Las Vegas, showing the beautiful clear blue waters of Lake Mead and the surrounding bays. Grissom and Catherine knocked on the door of the Swelco residence and let themselves in.

"Hello! Mr Swelco? Mr Swelco!" Grissom called out.

They quickly raced up the stairs. They were worried something bad was going on upstairs. They were right. Something DID happen. They found Winston Barger sitting on the recliner sobbing. By his feet was the dead body of Mr Swelco. In Winston's hand was the murder weapon: his own gun.

"He killed my wife," Winston sobbed.

"We just came from your house. We wanted to tell you that your wife's death was an accident," Catherine announced.

"What?" Winston stuttered.

Grissom and Catherine came forward and did their own thing. Catherine began looking at Mr Swelco's dead form and Grissom took the gun from Winston's grasp with latex gloves.

"He didn't kill her," Grissom told him.

That caused Winston to start sobbing even more. He just took the life of an innocent man here. Wouldn't you be exactly the same way?

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of the episode, people! Next episode will be Friends &amp; Lovers as you saw in my earlier author's note.<strong>

**BYE AND PLEASE REVIEW!**


	6. Friends & Lovers

**Friends & Lovers: A naked man dies of fear after an apparent chase in the desert at night. Grissom and Warrick investigate the cause. Nick and Catherine take on the case of a Catholic school dean who was brutally murdered, making Nick ponder about school enrollments for Kady who will start Pre-K the following year. Sara is called to a woman wrapped in plastic in a dumpster but discovers she died of natural causes and was buried over a week ago.**

**Next, Who Are You? A skeleton of a woman who was reported missing five years ago is found buried in concrete underneath a house, causing Grissom and Nick to launch an investigation. Catherine takes on the case of her ex-husband, Eddie, who is accused of raping a prostitute. Warrick and Sara have to search for the killer bullet when an officer is accused of murder.**

**Then, Blood Drops: Two sisters are the sole survivors when their family is brutally murdered. Grissom and his team are called in to investigate the murder of their parents and two brothers. Upon first look, they suspected they were victims of a cult murder. However, as more new evidence is uncovered, a horrific secret within the family is uncovered.**

**Later, Anonymous: A man is found dead in a bathtub in a hotel. Another staged suicide. Grissom, Sara and Catherine realise that the serial killer has knowledge in forensic science. Nick and Warrick investigate a tourist's car which tumbled over the ledge of a highway. However, this time it's three-year-old Kadelin who finds the breakthrough in the case.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Unfriendly Skies  
><strong>**Sex, Lies and Larvae  
><strong>**I-15 Murders  
><strong>**Fahrenheit 932  
><strong>**Boom  
><strong>**To Halve and to Hold  
><strong>**Table Stakes  
><strong>**Too Tough to Die  
><strong>**Face Lift  
><strong>**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler (Season 1 finale)**

**I own nothing aside from OCs. I STILL NEED HELP REWRITING SEASONS 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10! OH! When I put a line in the chapters, we're switching case focus. Just so you know.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>The pure darkness of the clear night has plagued Las Vegas aka 'America's Playground'. People are tucked up inside their houses fast asleep. People are hitting the casinos for some late-night gambling. High school teenagers and college kids alike are partying the night away getting drunk on alcohol, high on drugs and pleasured in more ways than one. A young man is stark naked panting as he ran through the desert of Nevada. Whoa. A naked man running in the desert? There's something you don't see everyday. And this is Vegas we're talking about; the city where you see things you don't see anywhere else. OK. We do NOT need to see parts of his anatomy so we're gonna cut straight to the chase.<p>

In desert daylight, the CSIs are working yet another crime scene. The two CSIs taking the lead in this case are Gil Grissom and Warrick Brown. Warrick was busy surveying and taking photos of the crime scene while Grissom just stared at the body covered in desert sand and maggots.

"Maggots. This kid's been here a while," Grissom stated as he turned the body over, "No gunshot wounds. No stab marks. No signs of strangulation."

"It's a long way out in the sticks. He could've just dropped dead," Warrick pointed out as he continued taking photos.

"Not if you're being chased," Grissom retorted as he stood up and walked a few feet from them, "Look at the foot patterns leading up to the body. You see the strides? This kid was running. See the left foot impression? It's straight. It's normal. But look at the right foot impression. It's turned outward. Almost 90 degrees."

"He was looking over his shoulder while he was running," Warrick summised, "You thinking there was someone else here?"

"Based on these prints, it's hard to tell," Grissom answered.

"Can I get this taped off here?" Warrick requested.

"Yes, sir," an officer responded before going to retrieve some crime scene tape.

"So you wanna call it? How do you think he died?" Warrick wanted to know.

Grissom took another look at the poor guy's blistered face before answering his question, "Fear. This kid was chased to death."

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Gary Dourdan  
>George Eads<br>Jorja Fox  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

Hey, hey, hey! We're back at the Las Vegas Crime Lab, baby! Grissom is rapidly doing...something involving flash paper. We'll know what it is later. But it will lead to something being burnt. That's all I'll probably need to tell you. Grissom's little experiment and his train of thought was interrupted by the ringing of his office phone.

"Grissom. ...No. I did it yesturday! ...Yes I did! Thank you!" Grissom spoke into the phone before hanging up.

"Hey. You wanna give us our assignments or you want us to take the night off?" Catherine Willows asked as she opened the office door.

"Paperwork, paperclips, paperpunchers; pll these people want me to do is to push papers. They don't want me to solve crimes," Grissom grumbled.

"Hey. You could've turned the job down," Catherine reminded him.

"Well, the grass is always greener, Catherine," Grissom retorted.

"Well, let's just hurry this up," Catherine suggested as she lowered the...thingy down.

However, she lowered it too fast and the piece of paper was set alight. See? I told you something would end up burnt. Grissom sighed in frustration as the small orange flames roared before him.

"Cool," Warrick remarked sarcastically while Catherine clapped.

"You really wanna see flash paper flash? Walk in on a bookie," Catherine suggested.

"That's what this was about! Bookies!" Grissom told her before his phone rang once again.

"Don't answer it. You have work to do, boss" Catherine said as she handed the cases to Grissom.

"Warrick, you and I are on the 419: our dead body in the desert. Sara, dead body of your own. Dump site out near Henderson," Grissom informed his work collegues as he handed papers to each teammate.

"Oh. I'll dress down," Sara remarked.

"Catherine, Vernan Day Charter School. 420 homicide. The school dean was killed in his office. Suspect called it in. Could be self-defence," Grissom explained.

"What? Did some kid off him with a silver spoon?" Catherine laughed.

"Suspect's not a kid. It's the woman who founded the school. Take Nicky with you!" Grissom called to her.

"Where is he?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Hi, Aunty Cathy! Hi, Aunty Sara!" Kady Stokes greeted as she bounced alongside them cheerfully.

"Hey there, K.T," Sara greeted as Catherine settled the three-year-old on her hip.

"Where's your daddy?" Catherine asked.

"You have got to stop doing that, butterfly," Nick Stokes panted as he appeared alongside them.

"You're coming with me," Catherine announced as she handed them the sheet of paper.

"Glad you could make it," Sara smirked.

"Someone decided to give my three-year-old daughter a sugar rush at her sleepover last night and I had just managed to wear her out when I got the call and now, she's energetic again," Nick defended as he glared at Catherine playfully and muttering, "This kid's gonna kill me."

"Not yet, you haven't," Catherine laughed as she referred to the giggling Kadelin, "And I am NOT the only one at fault. It was Lindsey's idea to have all the sweets. Besides, as you said, she's three years old going on four. She's meant to be energetic. And it's also her JOB to kill you. Like us, she has her work cut out for her."

"Got that right. I'm outta here. Good luck tonight, you guys," Sara wished.

"See ya," Nick, Catherine and Kady farewelled as they went their seperate ways.

* * *

><p>"Can't make a ruling? Look at the bruise marks on John Doe here! I call that suffocation!" Warrick exclaimed.<p>

"Not necessarily. Could be the result of his face impacting the ground at experation," Jenna reminded him.

"I'm gonna take a mouth swab," Warrick told them.

"Go ahead," Jenna invited, "Grissom, I have something to show you. You know, when a kid this young drops dead, smart money chases antisphetics, alcohol, methonal; maybe even a little free-on. I gotta be honest. I've had a lot of dead bodies from the desert and when they're out there too long, the elements tend to eat away the evidence. My opinion is you're looking at the picture of health internally. Externally, it's another matter. Skin sample."

"This kid was dry as a bone from exposure," Grissom stated after looking down the microscope.

"Skin's not consistant with elemental damage. Warrick told me what you said about the cause of death being fear. I've never read about that in any medical book," Jenna remarked.

"Try the Forensic Medical Journal," Grissom suggested, "Read the Four Cannons of Cause of Death: Homicide, Suicide, Natural or Unexplained. Talks about fear in the last part of Unexplained."

"I had to ask," Jenna sighed.

"And you wanna know what killed this kid? Benny How the maggots," Grissom told them.

"What the maggots?" Warrick demanded.

"Tox the maggots we found on the victim. Whatever he injested has probably evaporated from the sun. But the maggots are like little refridgerators. They preserve what we digest for longer periods of time," Grissom explained.

"Entomology is our friend," Warrick remarked.

"Yes," Grissom agreed.

"Sorry, little buddy," Warrick apologised before placing the maggot on the table, "Scapel."

"My name's Paul and this is between y'all," Greg Sanders remarked as he passed the scapel.

"Talk about poor fishing," Warrick laughed as he sliced the maggot and placed the stomach contents in the bowl, "All yours, doc."

Happily, Greg smashed the contents from the maggot in the bowl. Suddenly, he turned to Warrick and asked, "Where's my kjemisk prinsesse?"

"Kje-what now?" Warrick repeated.

"Whenever Kady's around, I'm always happy to do experiments with her to either entertain her, so she could help with a case or to practice so I can help her with schoolwork when she actually starts school. She appeared to be really interested in chemicals and DNA and stuff. And kjemisk prinsesse means 'chemical princess' in Norwegian so I started calling her that," Greg explained, "Well...that and my people are Norwegian." **(AN: True facts right there.)**

"I had to ask," Warrick sighed as he removed his gloves, "By the way, she's in the field with Nick. He's working the case of that murdered Catholic school dead with Catherine. Fire up that gas in that Mass Spectrometar thing, will you?"

"No problem, sir," Greg responded as he injected the solution into said machine, "15 seconds till pay dirt."

"Cool," Warrick remarked.

"Play any pigskin lately?" Greg asked.

"No. I'm off that," Warrick denied, "Besides, I have something better; our goddaughter."

"That's prime time for you," Greg stated.

"I haven't made a bet in a month. I can't say I don't have that itch," Warrick commented.

"Haven't seen that stuff for a while," Greg remarked as he read the results that were just printed.

"What's that?" Warrick immediately demanded.

"Jimson weed," Greg announced.

* * *

><p>Looky looky. We got trashy. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. Sara Sidle is on the case. However, with this case, there isn't much of a case. I'll tell you that much. She waved to the detective that was standing near the bin as she set her gear on the ground.<p>

"DNA get a name?" Sara asked.

"She's not exactly carrying a purse," was his response as he took her hand and helped her up the steps so she could look at the body.

She sighed when she saw the sight inside. She was naked. Not stripped to her underwear. Actually naked. She was lying on her side completely wrapped in layers of see-through plastic. Almost like a Glad-Wrap sort of substance. Her legs were slightly bent. As if she was jumping a few feet or so into the air. She appeared to be in a deep sleep. Oh, if only that were the case. Sara immediately grabbed her camera and started taking photos of the horendous scene.

"OK. Let's take her out," Sara requested as the detective helped her down, "Thanks."

"Sure," he responded as the coroner rolled up with the stretcher.

When she was on the strecher, they moved back the plastic to see her beautiful face mattered with blonde hair. Sara touched her cheek and immediately noticed a gooey substance on her gloved finger.

"That's strange," Sara remarked.

"What's that?" the detective demanded.

"Glazed like a doughnut," Sara stated.

"Well, here's the reason her skin's so funny," David told Sara as they walked into the autopsy room.

"Phenohyde, right?" Sara guessed.

"Close. It's bynohotideterial. **(AN: Spelling would help a lot.) **Promotes fast draining and hydration of skin tissue," David explained.

"So I was right. This woman was embalmed," Sara said.

"Right. Yeah. I ran the prints through work hire. Got an ID right here. I, uh, I just wanna say I admire the gutso you approach with for your job," David complimented.

"Are you hitting on me, David?" Sara asked awkwardly, "Let me give you some friendly advice. If you wanna pull chicks, you gotta get aggressive. You gotta drop the glasses, lose the coat, grow some scruff...you do get a C for cute though."

David just smiled at her before typing in the computer and the ID of Sara's dumpster victim showed up on the screen.

"Stephenie Rays was raid to rest at Desert Haven Funeral Home. Her funeral was last week," Sara read.

* * *

><p>Aw, man! I just got out of school! I do NOT want to go back! Not until holidays are up, anyways. Well, unfortunately, we have to go back for the sake of Nick and Catherine's case. Nick walked in with one hand holding his bag and his free hand holding the hand of his baby girl. She looked like she could fall asleep on the spot, much to Nick's inward relief. Finally, she's free from her sugar rush!<p>

"Hi," Catherine greeted the detective.

"Hey," he returned before glancing down at Kady, "You tired?"

"Uh-huh," Kady nodded sluggishly.

"Come here," he beckoned as he scooped the little girl into his arms and watched as she fell asleep.

"Thanks, man," Nick thanked his dear friend.

"What have we got?" Catherine asked.

"Vernon Woods. Dean of the school. 49. Single. Multiple blunt force trauma wounds to the head," he read singlehandedly.

"With that, probably," Catherine shrugged as she referred to the bloodstained rock near his body.

"Yeah. I got it," Nick reassured her as he quickly glanced at his daughter in the detective's arms.

"Nick, stop worrying. She'll be fine," Catherine laughed.

"Hey! I'm a single father! It's my job to worry about her! More than a normal father should!" Nick defended with a laugh before looking at the wall, "Whoa. Check out that blood spatter."

"Yeah. Blows to the head up close and personal," Catherine remarked as she looked at the blood spatter for herself, "A lot of passion in this one. How about the suspect?"

"Kate Armstrong. Founded the school. She called 911 on her cell. She says he attacked her. She's out in the hallway," he explained before asking Nick as Catherine walked away, "How does Kady sleep through all this?"

"Normally, I would say 'God only knows', but I'm gonna say she just ended her sugar rush," Nick told him with a slight laugh before taking the photo of a bloodstained vase.

"He wouldn't let go of me. He kept pawing. I could still smell his aftershave. I mean, it's all a blur. I grabbed the closest thing I could and I hit him with it," Kate informed Catherine with sobs in her voice.

"A rock?" Catherine guessed.

"I don't know what it was. I didn't care. I just wanted him off of me," Kate confessed.

"How many times did you hit him?" Catherine questioned.

"Once," she answered.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_What's the matter? Come on. Nobody's gonna hear. What's the matter?" Vernon kept on asking Kate as he advanced towards her in a certain way._

_Kate was scared. She knew he was a sleezebag right from the getgo, but he was generous towards the school. She thought it would've been wrong to NOT make him the dean. Scared for her safety, she grabbed the nearest object (the rock) and struck him in the head with it. He grunted and stumbled back. Blood immediately gushed from his wound.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Miss Armstrong, were you and the dean having a personal relationship?" Catherine asked.

"No. No. Vernon's a pig," Kate scoffed.

"Then why did you hire him? You founded the school. It's your integrity on the line," Catherine stated.

"He's great at raising money. His donor list is huge!" Kate defended before sniffling, "I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted him to leave me alone."

"But you hit him more than once," Catherine informed her.

"Who knows?" Kate sighed.

"When you hit a man once, there's no blood. First hit's free. You hit him more than that. The walls in his office look like the dean went a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson," Catherine remarked. **(Me: Who's Mike Tyson? Jason: You did not just say that!)**

"Then I hit him more than once," Kate agreed, "I wanted him off me."

"Will you excuse me?" Catherine asked before walking away at her nod, "Officer. Thanks."

"What did you find out?" Nick wanted to know as he walked towards his friend with his still-sleeping daughter in his arms.

"Heavy on BS. Zippo on truth," Catherine answered.

"You don't seem too bummed about it," Nick stated.

"Hell no. I'm stoked. We did the best case, Nicky. I can feel it," Catherine practically squealed.

"Well, there's only one more thing left to do," Nick started.

"String it," Catherine finished.

"String it," Nick immediately agreed.

"Poor girl looks drained," Catherine remarked as she referred to Kady.

"About time too," Nick chuckled as he kissed her cheek, "Kid's gonna be the end of me."

"Give Sunshine time. Before you know it, she'll be her cheerful self once again," Catherine reassured him cheerfully.

"This is definitely making me question something," Nick confessed, "You know how Kady's gonna turn four in a few months? Well, pretty soon, she'll start Pre-K. I'll have to start sending applications soon and I have to know which school will be the best for Kady."

"Send her to Lindsey's school. The education program there is perfect for her. And Lindsey already promised me that if you decided to send Kady there, she and her friends will look out for her like she's their baby sister," Catherine reassured him, "Trust me. She'll be safe there."

* * *

><p>"I've never filed a missing person's report before. But I'm getting concerned about Eric," Bobby stuttered.<p>

"Where was the last place you saw your friend?" Captain Brass asked.

"After work. We went out," Bobby answered as he scratched his arm.

"You two work together?" Brass questioned.

"Nah. A few blocks apart. I'm over at Vooshes. You know, Vooshes Fireworks. He's over at Elements Sound and Music Store," Bobby explained.

"You guys go to the desert?" Brass quizzed.

"Yeah. Party out near Red Rock. How did you know?" Bobby demanded.

"You just told us," Brass laughed.

"We, uh…drank a couple of beers. Hung out and then I just lost track of him around midnight and I haven't heard from him since," Bobby told them.

"Did you guys drop anything that night? Alcohol? Ectasy? G?" Grissom asked.

"No. No way. Look. Do you know where Eric is or not?" Bobby demanded impatiently.

"Bobby, we found a body that closely matches your description of Eric. Would you be willing to identify him?" Grissom wanted to know before they were inside the autopsy room where Grissom was pulling back the white plastic sheeting asking, "Is this your friend?"

Bobby just took one glance at his dead friend and started sobbing hysterically, causing Grissom to look at him both sympathetically and with a funny expression gracing his crabby features. He heard the quiet 'Oh God' and the sighs and the sobs and the tears; he heard it all.

"What happened to you, Eric?" Bobby asked quietly.

"Hey, boss. I got something for you," Warrick announced as he walked in, "I did the whole tox the maggots thing like you said. Found jimson weed in their blood."

"Which means," Grissom sighed.

"Jimson weed in Eric's blood," Warrick finished for him.

"Jimson weed. Dry as a bone. Red as a beet. Blind as a bat. Mad as a hatter," Grissom recited.

"Really. Cite your sources," Warrick requested.

"I had insomnia," Grissom sighed.

"I heard Brass said they weren't doing any drugs," Warrick recalled before Grissom gave him a look, "Yeah."

* * *

><p>Back at the school, Nick had a pencil above his ear and was taping string to random points around the room. Particularly near the various blood spatters all around the place. His three-year-old daughter sat on a blanket on the couch looking quizzical.<p>

"What are you doing, daddy?" Kady asked him.

"I'm marking certain points of the scene. This way, we can find out what really happened to the poor man," Nick responded as he marked a point near the couch and held a hand to his daughter, "Wanna give me a hand?"

"OK," Kady nodded eagerly as she slid off the couch.

"OK. So you grab this string and walk around to a certain point inside this room. When you reach that place, yell for me and I'll tape it to the object. But watch your step. I don't want you to get hurt. Do you understand?" Nick told her.

"Yes, daddy," Kady nodded, "Where do I go?"

"First of all, you'll need this," Nick stopped her as he grabbed kid-sized latex gloves **(AN: Don't ask me why he has them on his person.)** and slid them on her, "You see that red rainbow over there?"

"The one made of blood?" Kady assumed.

"Yes. That one. I want you to go over there and take this string with you," Nick instructed as he handed her the piece of string.

And that was how things went between father and daughter. Already, Nick was giving her CSI education. Wow. Nick had to admit. Three years old and already has the making of an amazing CSI. Well, she is the daughter of two CSIs. Somehow, it was bound to happen eventually. Kady would stick the pieces of string to the wall and Nick would type in the measurements into his PDA-thingy. By the end of the day, the room was a maze made of different kinds of string.

"Blood spatter on northwest wall. Blood sprays northeast corner above the vase," Nick spoke into his recorder as Catherine walked in.

"Wow. Now there's a look I like to see. Confusion," Catherine remarked, "It's a maze in here."

"Kady actually helped me with some of this. I think we have a junior CSI on our hands," Nick boasted, "And, just so we're clear, I'm not confused. X marks the spot; a blow here, here and here. Our dean received the majority of blows when he was on the ground."

"Cast off from the weapon against the window," Catherine stated.

"Yeah," Kady agreed.

"The back wall. Void against the back wall and the floor near the body," Catherine pointed out.

"The blood spatter has a void instead of one continuous spray," Nick added.

"This interruption: a space where something or someone comes between the blood coming off the body and the wall," Catherine explained.

"Which means our assailent's here and…there was someone else in this room," Nick realised.

"Kate Armstrong is lying," Kady piped in.

"Wow. Definitely a junior CSI on our hands," Catherine laughed.

"What did I tell you?" Nick retorted as he settled his daughter onto his hip.

* * *

><p>"Fruit juice. Half ice," Warrick announced as he set the glass in front of Bobby.<p>

"Thanks, Warrick," Grissom thanked.

"The guy said it was natural. That it wasn't a drug. I mean, gymson weed is a plant," Bobby defended.

"Most drugs derive from plants. That doesn't make them safe," Grissom retorted.

"Or legal, for that matter," Warrick piped in.

"Yeah. But he said it was safe. That's why we bought it!" Bobby got really defensive now.

"Did you take the drug too?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah. We both did. You drink it. It's a tea," Bobby explained.

"Who sold you this tea?" Grissom demanded.

"He didn't give a name. He just…he told us that J-weed would be a cool high; mind expanding. I mean, that's the whole point of a rave. It's to experiment," Bobby remarked.

"Did you get a stamp when you got in?" Warrick questioned.

"Yeah. But that was like four days ago!" Bobby stated.

"Well, mostly, they use water-resistant pads so you don't sweat it off. Could you hit the lights, Griss?" Warrick requested as he grabbed his gear, "Where did they stamp you?"

After Grissom turned off the lights, Bobby lifted his sleeve and slid his watch up. Warrick waved the UV Light around the underside of his wrist and the butterfly-shaped stamp shone like a neon light.

"Yeah. That's a DJ Masterband stamp. He is a big spinner right now in Vegas. Must have been playing at the rear these two were at," Warrick explained as Grissom turned the lights back on.

"Is there any way for us to track down this DJ person?" Grissom wanted to know.

"The free papers. They have adds for these sort of things," Warrick answered.

"Bobby, would you be able to recognise the man who sold you this jimson?" Grissom asked.

"Definitely," Bobby nodded.

"No one in the mortriary business likes to discuss the issue but it does exist. People rob graves," the funeral director told Sara as they walked through the cemetary.

"Are you telling me someone dug up Stephanie Rayes and stole her body?" Sara demanded in disbelief.

"They do it for gold, pickets or just for kicks. You should hear what I hear a conventions," he laughed.

"Did you report the robbery of Mrs Rayes' remains to the police?" Sara questioned.

"As I said, we do not like to discuss the issue outside the community," he repeated.

"Profits over people. Is that it?" Sara assumed.

"I wouldn't put it like that," he responded before they begain digging up Stephanie's grave. But were they going to find anything? I don't think so.

"8 feet. How deep do you bury these caskets?" Sara wanted to know.

"Well," he started.

"There's nothing else in there. I thought you said grave robbers only stole the bodies," Sara said to him.

"This might have been an inlaid casket. Something of value that people would steal!" he defended.

"You sell caskets, right? As part of your mortriary service?" Sara suddenly asked, "I'd like to see some."

"I can arrange a viewing," he reassured her.

"Coolness," Sara grinned.

* * *

><p>Oh boy. Something tells me I'm not going to like this experiment Grissom is conducting. Is it alright for me to be nervous?<p>

"Griss, I got the prelims back on the mouth swab I got from our desert guy," Warrick started.

"And?" Grissom pressed.

"Products found in mouth and nose. Metholated nose spray, pechulli and illenimum," Warrick read.

"Nose spray: he had a cold," Grissom stated.

"Pechulli: they burn at music stores," Warrick recalled.

"Illenimum's the odd man out," Grissom remarked as he poured hot water into a clear teapot.

"Yeah. I'm putting together a list together of products made of that stuff. Something tells me that's not lemonade," Warrick suddenly said as he saw what Grissom was making.

"Jimson tea. I'd like to see what we're dealing with. Doesn't look lethal, does it?" Grissom asked rhetorically.

"Doesn't look like tea, either," Warrick commented.

"You know what the Japanese tea ceremony signifies?" Grissom suddenly questioned.

"What's that?" Warrick sighed.

"That every human encounter is a singular occasion which can never occur again in exactly the same way," Grissom explained.

"Does that apply to our case?" Warrick asked.

"Everything applies, Warrick," Grissom retorted as he poured some of the tea into a cup, "That's the beauty of it."

"Cheers," Warrick remarked sarcastically, "Oh! Make sure you hide that stuff when Kady's here. If she gets high on that, Nick will never let us hear the end of it. And I love my goddaughter."

"You're not the only one, Warrick," Grissom reminded him, "She's my goddaughter too."

* * *

><p>"Alright. It's true. Someone else was there," Kate sighed as she, that detective from earlier, Catherine, Nick and Kady roamed the school grounds.<p>

"A name would be nice," he remarked.

"She's a friend on the faculty. But she had nothing to do with this!" Kate defended.

"The blood evidence is telling us otherwise," Catherine piped in.

"Look. Homicide will give us a name if you won't. There are detectives and your school's not that big," Nick threatened.

"Julia Eastman. But she was doing me a favour," Kate relented.

"What kind of favour?" Kady asked her curiously.

"Training them young, I see," Kate laughed.

"Well, these days, it's hard to find a babysitter I trust and who will always come at such short notice. But honestly, I just love having her with me," Nick laughed.

"But to answer her question, she was at the wrong place at the wrong time," Kate answered, "And…you might wanna find your daughter."

Confused, Nick looked down and saw that his three-year-old baby was no longer beside him.

"How does she do that?" he grumbled as he searched the place…only to see her with a couple of the pre-kindergarten students and sighing, "God. This kid's gonna be the end of me."

"Kadelin is an intelligent young girl. She is eager to learn, a social butterfly and is always so bubbly no matter the situation. She'd be the perfect addition to the school. How old is she?" Kate asked.

"Three going on four in a couple of months," Nick boasted proudly.

"We're accepting applications for pre-kindergarten once we find another dean, if you're interested," Kate told her.

"I'll think about it," Nick reassured her as he went to retrieve his daughter from the group of young girls.

"You're not gonna think about it, are you?" Catherine asked knowingly.

"Nope," Nick agreed, "I wanna send my daughter to a school where the dean won't end up murdered by the founder."

* * *

><p>"We kinda made a plan so the next time Wood hits on her, she'd have a witness. You know, because of the harrassment," Julia explained to Catherine and Nick in the interrogation room.<p>

"And when you were playing witness, where were you standing?" Catherine questioned.

"At the doorway," Julia answered confidently.

"Are you sure?" Catherine pressed.

"Yeah," Julia nodded.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Vernon continued advancing towards Kate. Scared of what would happen, Kate grabbed a rock and hit him with it. The cast-off from the wound spattered onto the nearby window. During the struggle, Julia walked into the room._

"_KATE! NO!" Julia cried._

_But Kate didn't listen. She took another swing at him. This time, the blood splattered onto the wall…and Julia's clothes.  
><em>_End flashback_

"We're forensic scientists, Julia. Blood talks to us. People exaggerate and forget. Blood's like my grandfather and my three-year-old daughter. Never lies," Nick remarked.

"Nick reinacted the crime using the blood spatter with some help from his daughter," Catherine told her as Nick took out his computer.

"No. I just strung it. Thank you, anyway. The computer gitzmo works out all the geometry. You factor in the location of the body in relation to the blood on the wall in order to recreate the event. Each hit that drew blood gets its own unique colour as he fell. See? He was not just in a standing position when he was killed. He was on the floor! So how could your friend, Kate, who's roughly half his size wrestle him to the ground and keep him there while she bludgened him to death? And without help?" Nick asked rhetorically.

"I don't know," Julia shrugged, "Could we take a break? I need a break."

"Sure," Catherine granted reluctantly before Julia left.

* * *

><p>WHOO! Now this is a party! Out in the desert too! You know, this would be my kind of party…if I was older and they didn't sell jimson weed. Anyways, we're here because Grissom, Warrick and Bobby are here to track down the guy who sold Bobby and Eric the tea the night Eric died.<p>

"THREE! IT'S GONNA BE 20 EACH!" Bobby yelled to Grissom and Warrick over the loud music.

Immediately, Grissom dug into his pocket and dug out three 20s. Obviously, he was covering for the three of them. Once the money was handed over, they walked past the sercurity guards. Then, they had their hands stamped and they went on into the party. Wow. They had to admit. The party looked pretty awesome up close. Exotic dancers dressed like butterflies. The occassional high party-goer dancing with them on stage before epically crowdsurfing.

"TEENAGE WASTELAND!" Grissom remarked.

"WHO?" Warrick demanded.

"YEAH!" Grissom shouted.

"HI!" a woman greeted him over the loud techno music.

"HI!" Grissom returned.

"I LOVE YOU!" she told him before embracing him. Oh yeah. She's definitely high on jimson weed.

"THANK YOU! YOU'RE A TOTAL STRANGER TO ME!" Grissom responded awkwardly.

"IT'S ECTASY! IT MAKES EVERYONE FALL IN LOVE! DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY, MISS! HE'S ALWAYS THIS DUMB!" Warrick remarked before the woman walked away seductively.

"I LOVE YOU!" she said to another woman. Well, at least we know to stay away from ectasy.

"Come on! Let's go!" Warrick ushered as they went to chase down Bobby.

The party really is in full swing! And look who happened to be there! BRASS! Wow! Who knew he would be hanging at this kind of party? But seriously! He could've at least ditched the suit! Bobby continued scanning the scene before him. But when he looked towards one of the cars, he found the person who sold him and his now dead friend the jimson weed.

"THAT'S HIM! THERE! THAT'S THE DEALER!" Bobby announced, causing Grissom and Warrick to race to him.

"BOBBY! WAIT!" Grissom called to the racing man.

But before anyone could stop him, Bobby was tackling him to the ground and beating him. Grissom and Warrick appeared next to him in the nick of time. Grissom pulled Bobby off of him and Warrick pulled the dealer to his feet.

"What do you guys think you got on me?" Ethan demanded.

"Selling jimson weed to kids," Grissom answered coldly.

"You see any J-weed on me?" Ethan laughed.

"You sent our Bobby over here and his friend on quite a trip the other night," Grissom said.

"Which trip was that? The one to San Diago or the one to Mars?" Ethan scoffed.

"To impound where your car is going. Probable cause," Brass corrected.

"You don't have to take my car to impound, OK? Just search it. But I got news for you. This is a schedule one controlled substance. Mandatory suspended sentence for first time possession. And you can't prove that much," Ethan scoffed.

"Guy knows a lot about the Nevada State Penal Code," Brass stated.

"If you're gonna break the law, Jim, you gotta know the law," Grissom remarked.

"Exactly. Just don't scratch my puppy," Ethan requested before handing over his keys.

Whilst the party carried on at full swing, Grissom searched the car. So far, he found no signs of jimson weed…until he looked on the floor and saw seeds. WHOO HOO! GO GRISSOM! YOU FOUND THE WEED! Sadly, you can't arrest him though.

"Well, what do you say, Ethan? These seeds look familiar?" Grissom asked as he held up the special evidence tape that had the jimson weed stuck to it.

"Did you just fish these out of your undies?" Ethan cackled, "Look, man, if you wanna take me in, take me in. I'll be back before the party's over."

"Because you know the law, don't you, Ethan? Mandatory suspended sentence for first possession, right?" Grissom recalled.

"Exactly," Ethan agreed.

"Let me tell you something, Humbird. You're twice the age of these kids and most of them couldn't find their own ass with a map! You pray on innocent children concucting God knows what from God knows where selling Russian roulette in a bottle! And you think we came all the way out here to bust you for possession, you dumb punk?" Grissom exclaimed in disbelief, "Imma get you for murder. Cool?"

Ah, here we are. Back in the autopsy room. We're gonna end up here someday. But not at the same time and not for the same reasons. Here, Grissom is going to learn why he can't arrest Ethan…even though it's pretty obvious.

"This Ethan was selling jimson tea at the Desert Rave. I believe Eric drank the most toxic part: the rags. The bottom of the batch. The part that's full of seeds," Grissom told Jenna.

"Well, if that's true, we might be able to catch up with some of the seeds because they have a way of hanging around the lower intestional tract. And the last ones to leave the party would be right about here," Jenna announced as she pulled some seeds out of his body, "Jimson reduces gastric motility which kept this in his system."

"Now we just tie that to the dealer," Warrick remarked.

"Well, we'll see if it ties to the dealer," Grissom corrected, surprising Warrick.

"That's not what you were saying out at that rave up in that guy's face," Warrick recalled.

"There's three things I've got a problem with: guys that hit their wives, sexual assault on children and the scum that deal death to kids," Grissom explained.

"There's three things I have a problem with: scum who think they can get away with stuff, any kind of assault on children and those who mess with my goddaughter," Warrick gritted.

And that's what brings Warrick and Grissom to Greg to break down the chemical components of jimson weed.

"The chemical compositions break down exactly the same," Warrick stated.

"Yeah. But that doesn't necessarily that the seeds from the dead kid's gut came from the same place as the seeds in the dealer's car," Greg reminded them.

"We need the pots to do a DNA match and we don't have them," Grissom sighed.

"Yeah. The truth is it wouldn't matter. I ran the seeds Eric injested. Toxins are low. Too low to have killed him," Greg announced.

"Square one," Warrick sighed.

* * *

><p>"There's no way I'm gonna end up in a dumpster wrapped in plastic. I'm gonna be cremated. Dusted in the wind, you know? I never want any part of these things," Sara confessed.<p>

"I've already got mine paid off," the scientist next to her announced.

"Are you serious?" Sara scoffed in disbelief.

"Yeah. Looks like this one," he said as he walked towards a brown coffin.

"How much did it run you?" Sara asked.

"Ten thou," he boasted.

"Ten thousand dollars for a box buried in the ground that everyone's only gonna see you in once?" Sara repeated in even more disbelief.

"I like it! It feels like a caddy!" he defended.

"So when you buy one of these for ten thousand dollars, it's yours, right?" Sara questioned curiously.

"Of course it is," he shrugged.

"No one else gets to use it," Sara went on as she opened the coffin.

"It's built for one," the scientist remarked.

Sara bent down slightly and looked inside the coffin. Almost immediately, she bolted upright and raced for the roller. She came back and rolled the roller inside where the head normally is. When she held it up, it was covered in blonde hairs. Hair similar to Stephanie Rayes' hair colour.

"Then how did all these people get in here?" Sara demanded.

* * *

><p>"Thought I'd find you here," Warrick remarked as he approached Grissom near the water fountains.<p>

"It's why I live," Grissom sighed as he leaned against the wall.

"Evidence: the double-edged sword," Warrick said.

"Yeah. Nobody wanted to put that pusher in jail more than I did. Evidence sets him free," Grissom moaned.

"How do you feel about this?" Warrick asked.

"It doesn't matter how I feel. Evidence only knows one thing: the truth. It is what it is," Grissom answered.

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Warrick demanded.

"I was flying to a seminar in New Hampshire a couple of summers ago. About halfway through Nick and Abigail's honeymoon. I was sitting on the plane next to a philosophy professor from Harvard. He told me about how every morning, he takes a leak after his three hour philosophy class. He flushed the toilet. There'd be a tiny brown spider fighting for its life against the swirling water. Come back the next day. Flush. The same spider crawling its way back from oblivian. A week goes by, he decides to liberate the spider. Grabs a paper towel. Scoops him up. Sets him on the floor in the corner of the stall. Comes back the next day. What do you think happened to the spider?" Grissom questioned.

"Dead," Warrick guessed.

"On its back eight legs in the air. Why?" Grissom demanded, "Because one life imposed itself on another. Right then, I realised where we stand. I understood our role. We don't impose our will on a spider, we don't impose our hopes on the evidence."

Warrick said nothing. He just nodded in response. He knew what his boss was talking about. Suddenly, the door opened and a man in a grey suit walked out briskly followed by Ethan.

"20! 10! 5! POOF! TOUCHDOWN, BABY! What's my name?" Ethan laughed.

"You'll be back," Grissom reassured him.

"Oh really? What? You got a crystal ball in that pocket?" Ethan asked rhetorically.

"You're a creature of habit!" Grissom called to the cackling retreating form.

"I'll catch you later!" Warrick added.

* * *

><p>"OK. So here's what we got so far on our dead dean. Blood spatter and blood cast-off on the walls, Kate Armstrong's confession, her clothes, three void areas and that's pretty much it," Catherine listed as she, Nick and Kady walked out of the department, "Anything else?"<p>

"That's not enough. That's not enough! What's the one thing we're missing?" Nick asked as he settled his daughter on his hip.

"That's it!" Catherine gasped.

"What's it?" Kady questioned as she held her plush butterfly doll to her chest.

"The one thing we're missing!" Catherine gasped.

"The blood," Nick started.

"On Julia's clothes!" Catherine finished.

"Back in we go," Kady remarked.

"Back in we go, butterfly," Nick agreed as he kissed her cheek, "Come on. Let's get you changed and ready for bed."

"I'll change her," Catherine volunteered as she took her goddaughter from her friend.

Moments later, Catherine and Nick were back in the interrogation room with Julia. Kady was dressed in her butterfly nightgown asleep on the couch underneath a blanket and Catherine's jacket. Nick was nervous about leaving her in his office but Greg promised to keep an eye on her. If needed, he'd take her to his office and let her sleep there while he worked. Ain't that sweet?

"We need the clothes that you were wearing the day the dean was killed," Catherine told her.

"I burned them," Julia confessed.

"Why?" Catherine demanded.

"The blood wouldn't come out. They were ruined," Julia explained.

"Blood's funny that way. In fact, I bet there's lots of blood on Dean Wood's shirt," Catherine remarked as she walked out.

And she was right. As she examined the dead dean's shirt, she, in fact, saw lots of bloodstains. But there was something else that interested her.

"Look at that void. What a beaute," Catherine gushed.

"Oh yeah," Nick agreed, "You don't need to know every star. You can draw a constellation. And fill in the rest. Whoa. Look at that last finger there."

Using his own hand, Nick drew an outline of the void on the white shirt on the piece of paper with a permanent marker. It was then they realised what the shape of the voice was made out to be. Another hand! But there was something odd.

"Talk about your unique atributes. What do you think? A bandage?" Catherine guessed.

"We'll have to ask our ladies. I can tell you this. Somebody's playing through the pain," Nick stated, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go check on Kadelin."

"She's with Greg. What's the worse that can happen?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Do you NOT remember what happened when Kady was two weeks old?" Nick retorted.

"That was one time! He never did another dangerous experiment when she was around again! The only experiments he does around her are minor threats!" Catherine threw back.

* * *

><p>"I, uh, I just wanted you to know that Eric didn't die from jimson tea. It didn't have the chemical toxicity to kill him. The seeds weren't strong enough," Grissom explained to Bobby, who was constantly rubbing and scratching his arm, "Is your arm alright?"<p>

"Yeah. Spider bite. I think it's infected," Bobby told him.

"May I take a look?" Grissom asked.

"Sure," Bobby responded as he rolled up his sleeve to reveal the ugly angry red bite mark on his skin, "You're a doctor. You might be able to give me something.

"I'm a PhD. Not a MD," Grissom retorted before examining the bite, "Bobby, this bite is not from an insect."

"Hey. Who's the kid?" Bobby asked as he referred to a photo on Grissom's desk.

Grissom turned to the framed picture and couldn't help but crack a smile. It was of him and Kady when she was a month old. It was at a time where he, Catherine, Warrick, Brass and Greg wanted a momento from when she was a baby when Nick started bringing her to work at the lab. So Nick took photos for everyone. He even has a photo of his own sitting on his desk. As she gets older, they'll add more photos; such as photos from her first day of school. Nick even has a collection of home videos. Yes. He's recorded a lot of things. He's recorded her first steps. (He was lucky to have a video camera on hand to record those.) He's recorded her first word. He's recorded her first birthday party. He's recorded many moments and treasured them all in his heart. He knew Kady wouldn't be a child forever. So he tries to make every moment last.

"That's my goddaughter, Kadelin. But everyone calls her Kady, and I sometimes call her alligator. You see, we have this thing where when we leave, I go, 'See you later, alligator' and then she'd go, 'See you in a tad…pole'. She's three years old to this day. Her mother died not long after she was born. One of my collegues has to raise her on his own. He brings her to the lab everyday and will always do that until she starts school where we don't see her as much. Kady is sweet, beautiful, smart, always happy; it would be impossible to hate her," Grissom boasted.

Moments later, Jenna was sliding a tray with her medical tools into this machine to clean them. It's like a special dishwasher for her medical supplies. At that moment, Grissom walked in.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hi. I found a bite mark on Bobby's arm. And I think it's human," Grissom announced.

"You feel like sharing?" Jenna asked.

"Not really," he answered.

"Just a little?" she begged.

"I don't know, Jenna. This case has gone from bad to worse. I mean, usually, it's a body. It's the speciman. But when it involves kids, I just can't," Grissom sighed.

"Gruesome Grissom: Tin man with a heart. Who knew?" Jenna remarked.

"I do care! Especially about Kady!" Grissom retorted.

"Hey, guys. List came back on the test for luminent products from our kid in the desert. Fireworks," Warrick announced as he walked in and read the results in the folder to his collegues.

"That's where Bobby Taylor works!" Grissom gasped, "Jenna, I need a mould of Eric's teeth and an impression of Bobby's arm."

The following day, Bobby was back at the lab as some mould was spread like butter on his bite mark. The truth is going to come out soon. I'll tell you that much.

* * *

><p>"Julia, make a fist with your right hand. But count it down first starting with your thumb. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," Catherine requested with a demonstration.<p>

Julia raised her right hand and did so. When she was left holding up her pinky, she was confused. She didn't understand Catherine's strange request. Also, she feared that these two CSIs were catching on to their little lie. Well, newsflash, sweetheart. They are.

"Sprained it at tennis," she explained.

"It heals faster if you wear one of these," Nick said as he grabbed a special bandage from his pocket and tossed it onto the table.

"Dean Wood's shirt. Now we remember how we said blood tells us everything? Well, so does the absence of blood," Catherine told them as she slid the special bandage on and placed her hand on the shirt like so to demonstrate.

"Oh my God!" Kate gasped as she replayed that faithful day in her head.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Kate was beating the dean with the rock. After she hit him, she moved the rock roughly. When she did, the blood spattered onto the back wall…and onto Julia. She hit him again; cast-off on the vase. That hit brought him to the ground. Immediately, Julia appeared and used her right hand to hold her down as Kate beat him to death with the rock.  
><em>_End flashback_

"You held him down while she killed him," Nick surmised to Julia and Kate.

"All because the guy was handsy? Seems a little severe," Catherine remarked.

"We're gonna place you under arrest for murder," the detective announced, "Is there anything you wanna say?"

The two girls said nothing. They just looked at each other and held each other's hands as the two officers came in to take them to their new homes: jail cells. They stood up still holding their hands as they were handcuffed.

"Ma'am, place your hands behind your back please," the officer requested.

With that, they were lead away from the interrogation room. But that didn't satisfy Catherine.

"No, no, no. This isn't over," Catherine sighed.

"Well, for all forensic purposes, it is over. They're gonna eat bread and bang some metal cups on the bars. That's it. It's over for us," Nick retorted.

"We still don't know why," Catherine reminded him as she placed the shirt in the brown evidence bag.

"It's not our job to know why. It's our job to know how. You heard Grissom. The more the why, the less the how. The less the how, the more the why," Nick recited.

"Hey, Nick," Catherine started.

"Yeah?" he responded.

"Grissom's not always right," Catherine told him, "Do yourself a favour. Think for yourself. If not for you, for Kady. I mean that as a friend, OK? OK, detective, we have some more homework to do."

* * *

><p>"What are you selling? Timeshare coffins?" Sara demanded the mortiary director as they walked into the evidence room.<p>

"Well, there's no such thing as a timeshare coffin," he retorted.

"Sure there is! Once the funeral is over, you dump the body and keep on using the casket over and over!" Sara explained.

"You can't prove that!" he scoffed.

"Yes we can. This is a set of prints we found on the inside of the plastic sheeting we found in the dumpster. What are the odds they belong to you?" Sara asked rhetorically, "All you have to do is put their bodies back in their grave and no one will ever know wiser."

"You have no idea what a cut throat is in this business. The chains are moving in! I have payments to make! I see the world from a completely different perspective than most people!" he defended.

"Yeah. I know. You see dead people. So do I. And when they turn up in dumpsters, I'd like to see they get back to where they belong," Sara said.

"I'll repay back the money," he promised.

"Minimum! Then you're gonna pay for Stephanie Rayes' family to have a real burial!" Sara decided.

"OK," he nodded.

"At a respected mortiary," Sara added.

"OK," he agreed.

"Then we're gonna let the DA run the table," Sara finished.

* * *

><p>"I did some homework on Kate. Financial records for the last year," the detective announced as he handed Catherine a sheet of paper with Kate's financials on it.<p>

"Great," Catherine remarked as she read it.

"Personal cheques from Kate Armstrong to Vernon Woods over the last year," the detective told her.

"$5000. Another $5000. $3000. Memo: loans. I don't think so. I think she was paying him off for something," Catherine said.

"Did Julia say anything?" Kate asked.

"Like what? The real reason you killed Woods?" the detective demanded.

Nick and Catherine watched the interrogation from the observation room this time. So Nick had his three-year-old daughter in his arms. Kady was watching the scene unfold in front of her with a curious expression on her face. The same kind Grissom gets whenever he is studying an insect in his office. Nick had to admit. She was pretty cute.

"This is where Grissom and I differ. Forensics is about more than science. Human behavoir. Being consistant's human behaviour. Yes, how's crucially important. But so is why," Catherine told Nick before glancing at Kady, "Aw come on. Now that's just too cute."

"My cute baby butterfly," Nick chuckled as he kissed her head.

"I wanna tell him what happened," Kate whispered to her lawyer.

"If you're sure," she whispered back.

"OK," she started.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_I'm finished paying you. We're gonna live openly, honestly," Kate announced._

_"It's a new century. Parents are evolved," Julia added._

"_Not where their children are concerned. I'll tell everyone that I caught you two having sex on school grounds," Vernon threatened._

"_That's a lie!" Kate cried in outrage as Julia exclaimed, "What?"_

"_Of course that's a lie! That didn't stop the Marvin School from closing down. You know, I think I'll make a call," Vernon decided as he approached his telephone._

_Kate and Julia glanced at each other nervously. No way were they gonna let him ruin them and the school. So Kate grabbed a rock and beat him to death with it.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Julia and I would never have survived a rumor like that. We paniced. The school was our whole life," Kate finished.

"Well, you got your why. Crime of passion," Nick remarked.

"Bigger why," Catherine sighed.

"Why did it all come down to this?" Kady asked as she glanced at her father.

"I guess they didn't have a choice," Nick sighed.

"Probably didn't. A lose-lose situation. And what have you been teaching her? Because when Lindsey was her age, she never talked like that," Catherine recalled.

"I've been giving Kady a headstart to her reading. I didn't want to be one of those parents who waited until their child was in school before teaching them how to read. Plus, I rarely get to spend some alone time with Kady as it is. I take every chance I get."

* * *

><p>"I'm telling you. I didn't kill Eric," Bobby defended.<p>

"Can you remember your last hours with him Saturday night?" Brass asked.

"Don't answer that," his lawyer butted in.

"I wanna answer. I just don't remember anything after taking that stuff!" Bobby told them.

"It's not about memory now, Bobby. It's about the evidence. And the evidence sucks. You and Eric bought Jimson tea from Ethan," Grissom started.

"But you guys have never taken jimson weed before. So you were unaware of the side effects from photophobia," Warrick went on.

"Photo-what?" Bobby demanded.

"Photophobia is just a big word for lights freaking you out. You guys were hallucinating. And whatever Eric was seeing was scaring him big time," Warrick explained.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Eric was running away from Bobby and the Desert Rave. He glanced over his shoulder occasionally. What he saw behind him was not his friend or the party he was abandoning. Oh no. It was a car with the engine of a motorcycle chasing after him eager to flaten him. He tumbled down a hill. Bobby followed after him.  
><em>_End flashback_

"The coroner states that Eric's dose shot his temperature through the roof. He was boiling in his own skin. So he stripped which is why we found him naked," Warrick continued his scenario.

"We just don't know if it was an act of aggression of self-defence," Brass piped in.

"I loved that guy," Bobby told them.

"Which is why I tend to believe it was an act of self-preservation. The lights were scaring him. At the same time, we conjectured you were suffering auditory hallucinations. Both of these symptoms are routine with his drug," Grissom informed him calmly.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Shut up! SHUT UP!" Bobby screamed as he ran after his friend clutching his head, "Shut up! Shut up!"_

_He caught up to Eric and wrapped an arm around him as he clamped his mouth shut. Eric was struggling against him.  
><em>_End flashback_

"It's just…I can't remember. Honestly," Bobby reassured them.

"You can believe and conjecture all you want. None of this is based on fact," the lawyer scoffed.

"I'm afraid it is. The evidence tells us that Bobby suffocated Eric," Grissom announced.

"We found traces of illuminum trapped inside Eric's nostrils that are consistant with what we found in your client's hands and arms from his job at the fireworks plant," Warrick explained.

"I don't think I would do that!" Bobby gasped.

"I know, Bobby. But you did," Grissom said as he took out the moulds of Bobby's bite and Eric's teeth, "This is a mould of the bite mark we took from your arm today. This is a mould of Eric's mouth postmortum."

He then placed the mould of Eric's teeth on top of the mould of Bobby's bite on his arm. They matched like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Bobby had tears running down his face as he thought about how much Eric suffered.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Bobby was still holding onto Eric clamping his mouth shut trying to calm him down._

"_Shut up. Shut up. Shut up," was all he was saying._

_They were on the ground together now with Bobby cradling his best friend to his well-built form. Taking his opportunity, Eric opened his mouth and bit Bobby's arm hard. He cried in pain before clamping his hand over Eric's mouth and yelling shut up.  
><em>_End flashback_

"You overpowered him. He suffocated. And then finally the noise stopped," Grissom finally finished his story.

"I can tell you now. We're gonna plead deminished capacity," the lawyer told them.

"Good. I hope you win," Grissom commneted honestly.

"It doesn't matter," Bobby sighed.

"It's the difference between a prison and a hospital, Bobby. It matters," she retorted.

"You don't understand. I don't care what happens to me. I killed my best friend," Bobby moaned.

He looked up at Grissom with a regretful apologetic expression gracing his young features. Grissom glanced at him with nothing but understanding and sympathy. Moments later, Grissom and Warrick were outside waiting for Bobby to be taken away. They saw him being lead out of the building and into the police car to be taken to prison. Honestly, the moment was sad. Bobby didn't mean to kill his best friend like that. It was all because of a stupid tea from weeds. Grissom couldn't bear to watch the car leave. As soon as the ignition started, he stood up and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Warrick called out to him.

"Away," was his short response.

Hours later, we see him climbing aboard a rollercoaster and handing the worker money. As soon as he did, the rollercoaster started with only him on it. He just sat there emotionless as the ride chugged, sped off, turned, went upside down and more. And he didn't scream once. He was like he wasn't feeling any emotion on that ride. He felt nothing but the chugging and the pulls and tugs at the turns and hills. But it did make him feel a little better.

Nick sat at home staring at the papers in front of him with slight frustration on his mind. Paperwork. He hated the idea. Whenever the topic came up, he wanted to travel back in time and kill whoever invented paperwork before they could even have the chance to invent it. He would've done it at the office. But Grissom told him to take Kady home and let her sleep in her own bed. After five more minutes, he was done. He sighed in relief and looked at the time. 11pm. He'd been doing paperwork since he put his young daughter to bed…four and a half hours ago. He ran a hand down his tired face with a sigh. He walked towards the bedroom with a butterfly with _Kadelin_ inscripted on it in fancy calligraphy (a birthday present from Warrick). Nick opened the door and saw his daughter lying in her bed in a deep sleep. She was dressed in a blue nightgown and she was clutching her beloved plush butterfly doll to her chest. He smiled as he walked in and pulled the blanket higher over her tiny frame before kissing her cheek.

He sat on her bed and just watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful, so innocent. He wanted this moment to last forever. And yet he knew he couldn't. He knew nothing lasted forever. Honestly, when he found out that his now late wife was pregnant with their daughter, he wanted the two of them to resign when she was born so she wouldn't have to worry about losing her parents in the field. But all their plans for her changed when Abigail died that day. Nick decided to remain a CSI so he could provide a living for his young daughter. But he always feared that something would happen to him and Kady would end up an orphan. Or that someone they put away would later come out and use his baby against him in their desire for revenge. Or that his little girl could end up the victim in one of their murder investigations. God. Those last two thoughts alone have haunted his nightmares since he learned of the pregnancy. He wanted to be a good father. The best. But he always felt like he wasn't because he was never around. But everyone kept on assuring him that he was the best father in the world, including Kady. With a smile, he stroked her honey brown curls and kissed her cheek.

"Sweet dreams, butterfly," he whispered with a smile.

He smiled as she stirred slightly and her hand slid to brush against his. He held her hand for a couple for seconds before letting go and quietly leaving the room. He returned to the table where the paperwork was resting undisturbed. He sorted the paperwork into the files and placed them in his bag to take to work the following day. He then took out another form. However, this one was different. This wasn't related to any of his CSI cases. read the big words in front of him: Robert Lunt Elementary School Enrollment Form.

"This is for you, Kady," he murmured as he grabbed a pen.

He then started filling out the form.

_Surname: Stokes  
><em>_Given names: Kadelin Taylor  
><em>_Date of Birth: 19/02/97  
><em>_Current residence: 922 Rose Avenue, North Las Vegas, Nevada 89032  
><em>_Grade: Pre-Kindergarten  
><em>_Class: 2001_

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry if I got that wrong. I have no idea how the enrollment forms in America work since I live in Australia. The next episode is <strong>_**Who Are You?**_** That will be interesting; especially the ending. It'll touch your heart and highlight even more the close relationship Nick and Kady share.**

**BYE AND PLEASE REVIEW!**


	7. Who Are You?

**Who Are You: The skeletal remains of a woman who disappeared five years ago is found buried underneath a house in Summercliff, causing Nick and Grissom to investigate. Department protocal is broken when Catherine works the case of her ex-husband, Eddie, who is accused of rape. Warrick and Sara search for a missing bullet when an officer is accused of murder. First appearance of: Robert David Hall as Doc Al Robbins.**

**Next, Blood Drops: Two sisters are the sole survivors when their entire family is murdered. Grissom and his team are called in to investigate the brutal murders. Upon first look, they suspected they were victims of a cult murder. But as more evidence is uncovered, a horrific secret is exposed.**

**Then, Anonymous: A man is found dead in a bathtub in a hotel. Another staged suicide. Grissom, Sara and Catherine realise that the serial killer has knowledge in forensic science. Nick and Warrick investigate a tourist's car which tumbled over the ledge of a highway.**

**Later, Unfriendly Skies: On a flight en route to Las Vegas, a first class passenger is killed. Brass, Grissom and his team are called in. But they find their time limit short when the sherif announces they have 12 hours to solve the case before the FBI takes over their investigation. The victim's fellow passengers are reluctant to cooperate, causing the team to suspect their involvement in his death.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Sex, Lies and Larvae  
><strong>**I-15 Murders  
><strong>**Fahrenheit 932  
><strong>**Boom  
><strong>**To Halve and to Hold  
><strong>**Table Stakes  
><strong>**Too Tough to Die  
><strong>**Face Lift  
><strong>**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler (Season 1 finale)**

**I own nothing aside from OCs. I have seasons 1, 2, 3, season 5 finale and season 10 on DVD. Well...I would have all of them but prices haven't been so kind on my pocket money. Enough said.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>You've gotta love Vegas! With the casinos, the spas and – of course – that sweet-lookin' roller coaster! And, of course, the nice places you can live in. Take Summercliff for example. Five years ago, this place was nothing but desert. Now, it's a whole suburb! A beautiful one too, might I say? And where our story begins today! There's a leaky pipe in one of the houses. So the woman who owns the place decides to call in a plumber so he could fix it. Now, the guy from Pete's Pluming and Piping crawling under the house searching the pipes. But he will get a nasty surprise...<p>

"What's taking so long? I just wanted you to fix the leak!" she called down to him in frustration.

"Look, lady, to fix the leak, I need to FIND the leak!" he called back distracted.

He continued crawling underneath the house. Then he began crawling against the wall. His shirt got caught on something sticking out of the wall and the thin fabric ripped.

"Hold on," he grunted as he moved back to where his shirt ripped.

But when he did, he found something odd. He pointed his flashlight to the object and looked at it closely. It was the tips of something. But it's not a something. It's a someONE. He just found a skeleton buried underneath the house.

"Did you find the leak?" the woman asked.

"I found something!" he shouted back.

That night, Nick Stokes was pulling up to the scene in his Tahoe. He opened the back door and helped his three-year-old daughter, Kady, out of the car before heading to the boot and grabbing his kit. Grabbing Kady's hand with his free hand, he waked towards the beautiful house. A police officer held the tape up and Nick ducked underneath the yellow material. Once he was there, he placed his kit down and knelt next to Kady.

"What is it, daddy?" Kady asked.

"Patience is a virtue, baby. But it's something kinda gross," Nick responded.

"It's nothing I hadn't seen before," Kady retorted.

"What have you seen?" Nick immediately demanded.

"I promised Uncle Greggy I wouldn't tell," Kady replied.

"Oh yeah?" Nick asked as he set up his kit, which earned an eager nod, "Well, when we get back, I'm gonna have a nice little chat with Uncle Greggy. OK, Griss! We're ready up here!"

"Hang on a minute!" Grissom called back as he crawled towards the skeleton the plumber found, "OK! I'm here!"

"_Can you confirm it's human?_"

"Metacarpal, phalanges…no question about it!" Grisom responded after he got a closer look of the objects.

Grissom crawled out of the house and knelt next to Nick with a hammer and pick at the ready. Nick was the same way. But he also had Kady sitting on his lap resting against his chest. Nick sat her there so she didn't run off like she usually does at a crime scene.

"There's gotta be an easier way," Nick pleaded.

"When a body decomposes in concrete, it leaves an air pocket; vacuum-sealed. We do this right, it'll open like a jar of pickles," Grissom explained.

"Eugh!" Kady remarked as she screwed her face, "I don't like pickles."

"Who doesn't like pickles?" Grissom asked in disbelief.

"Abby didn't," Nick retorted, "So she got that from her mama."

"Fair enough," Grissom shrugged.

Nick and Grissom started picking at the bricks. When Nick broke through the air pocket, the seal broke and the rest of the wall crumbled away. Revealed before them was indeed a skeleton. Judging from the rate of decomp, it can't be more than a few years old at least.

"Cool!" Kady exclaimed.

"You find that cool?" Nick asked her.

"Yeah!" Kady nodded in excitement.

"Geez, you're killing us, kid," Nick mumbled.

"Nah. I think she's just killing you," Grissom retorted cheekily.

"Ten bucks says the owner sells the house," Nick remarked.

"By law, you got to disclose everything – three bedrooms, two baths and a skeleton," Grissom added.

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Gary Dourdan  
>George Eads<br>Jorja Fox  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

Back at Grissom's office in the lab, Catherine, Nick, Kady, Sara and Warrick were waiting for their next case. As soon as Nick walked in, Warrick stole her from him and started playing with her.

"You'd think that my best friend would let me spend some time with my own daughter every once in a while," Nick laughed.

"Hey. You have her all the time," Warrick retorted as he fed her the remainder of his chocolate ice cream and tickled her.

"Fair enough," Nick mumbled before smiling at his giggling daughter.

"OK. I know I'm late again. Warrick, stop tickling our goddaughter. You're gonna suffocate her," Grissom immediately demanded, causing Warrick to stop, "Nick's gonna work with me on that unidentified body at Summercliff."

"I hear it's just bones. What a rush," Sara remarked.

"O.I.S at the jockey club," Grissom read out.

"What's that?" Kady asked curiosly.

"Officer-involved shooting," Sara answered as she collected the assignment sheet.

"I'll take a piece of that," Warrick smiled as he kissed Kady's head and handed her back to Nick, who immediately crushed her against his chest as if he was a five-year-old not willing to share a toy before leaving the room with Sara.

"So, what do you have for me? I could use a rush," Catherine stated as she waited eagerly for her assignment.

"Well, this qualifies. 426. But I can't give you the case," Grissom told her as he sat on the edge of the table.

"Because…?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Conflict of interest. The alleged rape victim is an exotic dancer," Grissom explained to her.

"Because I used to be one, I'll be biased?" Catherine assumed in offence.

"No. Suspect's your ex-husband," Grissom announced, causing everyone's jaws to drop, "He's asking for you. But you can't take it."

That was when Catherine stood up and looked at Grissom before pleading, "Just let me do the prelim."

"Alright," Grissom sighed as he handed her the assignment sheet, "Do what you can. But after the preliminary, you pass it off. OK?"

Catherine didn't reply. She just walked out of the room, leaving Grissom, Nick and Kady alone.

"Women," Nick sighed.

"Men are worse," Kady retorted.

"Hey now. Who taught you that nonsense?" Nick demanded.

"Aunty Cathy and Aunty Sara," Kady answered honestly.

"You've gotta give them credit, Nick. They taught her well," Grissom chuckled.

* * *

><p>Catherine looked through the window into the interrogation room at her ex-husband, Eddie Willows. He was sitting impatiently in front of the table with the tape recorder and microphone in front of him. She watches him for a long moment, hoping to make the bastard sweat. Unfortunately, she couldn't.<p>

"Hey, honey. I want you to stay with this kind man, OK? Aunty Cathy will be back in a minute," Catherine kindly whispered to Kady.

"OK," Kady nodded.

Nick asked Catherine to watch Kady for five minutes while she and Grissom were at the morgue. Nick didn't feel that the morgue was an appropiate place for a three-year-old girl. So he never took her down there and won't until he feels that she's old enough. So Nick always asked someone to watch her while he's there. Catherine left the observation room and walked inside. Eddie looked relieved as he stood up.

"Thank God you're here!" Eddie sighed in relief.

"Eddie," Catherine greeted as she shut the door behind her.

"I didn't rape that girl!" Eddie defended as he watched his ex-wife place the open file on the table and sat down.

"According to the police report, she's telling a different story. I wonder what the rape kit's gonna say," Catherine pondered.

"We had sex, OK? But she was there with me 100%!" Eddie told her.

Catherine didn't say anything back at him. She just looked at the file before her and read the appropiate information.

"In the parking lot behind the club," Catherine retorted.

"Well, some women like the outdoors," Eddie shot back.

"Melanie know about this?" Catherine asked casually.

"Mel and I split up a while ago," Eddie announced.

"You might wanna call her anyway. She can loan you the money for an attorney," Catherine sniped before preparing to leave.

"You're not going to help me? Cath, I am in a jam here!" Eddie shouted.

"A detective from sex crimes has been assigned. I'm going to place another CSI," Catherine told him before approaching the door.

"What about Lindsay?" Eddie suddenly asked, causing Catherine to freeze.

"What about her?" Catherine demanded.

"You want her spending Sunday afternoons with me at Nevada State Prison or the mall?" Eddie wanted to know.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Nick and Grissom were down in the morgue staring at the metal table where their skeletal victim laid. They were examining the bones so they can work out who she is, how she died, when she was killed and later, the where and why she was killed along with the final who: who killed her? Nick had the anxious feeling he always got whenever he was separated from his baby girl. He was worse when she was an infant. He would run out sometimes to check on her (especially when she needed to be fed). But thankfully, he had good friends here who were always ready to look after her and help him raise her since Abby died. They even go around saying that she's CSI's little girl since she was practically raised here at the Crime Lab by all of them. Just imagine them when Kady starts school! Anyways…<p>

"Based on the auricular surface, I'd say she died when she was about 20," Grissom thought aloud.

"She?" Nick repeated confused.

"It's in the hips. Pelvic bone is definitely female. You know, for a ladies' man, you don't know much about bone structure. How you even managed to get a wife is beyond me," Grissom teased, before regretting it when he saw the brief look of sadness on Nick's face.

"I know all I need to know," Nick defended quietly before quickly changing the subject, "I figure she was killed before her cement bath."

"Yeah, how?" Grissom immediately asked.

"She was stabbed at least a dozen times. A screwdriver, maybe…like…a spike?" Nick pondered.

"No. The gouges on her ribs are unusual. The instrument had to be…slightly curved with some kind of serrated edge. Like crocodile teeth. Whatever killed this girl was not a traditional weapon," Grissom corrected.

"Well, stabbings are personal. She knew her attacker," Nick elaborated.

"That's the rule," Grissom agreed before placing a gentle hand on her skull and asking, "Who are you?"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Warrick and Sara are just arriving at their crime scene. They walked up to Brass who was standing by a car with a body inside with another officer who looked pretty nervous.<p>

"Sara Sidle, Warrick Brown? Officer Joe Tyner," Brass introduced.

"Hi," Sara greeted as they shook hands.

"Hi," Tyner responded.

"Officer Tyner," Warrick mumbled.

"How ya doing?" Tyner asked politely.

"Wanna tell us what happened here tonight?" Warrick asked.

Officer Tyner sighed and began recalling the event.

_Begin flashback  
>There was a Jeep speeding down the Strip. Nevada License plate. No doubt he's a local. Anyways, he turned onto the main strip so fast, the tyres squealed against the asphalt beneath him.<em>

"_Unit five. In pursuit of the fleeing 413 heading southbound on the Strip," Tyner spoke into the radio._

_Eventually, the Jeep turned into a nearby parking lot and came to a stop. Tyner is hot on his heels. The driver of the Jeep went to climb out. Tyner beat him to the punch. He climbed out of his car and drew his weapon._

"_GET BACK IN THE CAR!" Tyner requested._

_Without taking another second, the driver climbed back into the Jeep. Tyner cautiously approached the Jeep. Finally, he was in the view of the driver. He's unware of upcoming events._

"_DROP YOUR KEYS TO THE GROUND!" Tyner commanded before he did, "PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL!"_

_The suspect place both of his hands on the wheel saying,_

"_I didn't do it…whatever you think I did! I'm looking at three strikes! I'm not going back. I'll show you my registration."_

_The suspect reached for the glove compartment and went to open it._

"_NO! PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL!" Tyner demanded._

_But the suspect ignored him. He opened the compartment anyway and grabbed his gun. Before the officer could blink, the guy pointed the gun to his own head and shot himself.  
><em>_END FLASHBACK_

"Then he turned the weapon on himself. One shot. Right through the forehead," Tyner finished his recount.

"Where's his gun?" Sara asked.

"I left it in the jeep," Tyner answered.

"I'm gonna go bag it," Sara decided before approaching the jeep.

"Officer, we're gonna need your weapon as well," Warrick told him.

"I never fired!" Tyner defended.

"Drawn. But not fired," Brass added.

"It's just standard procedure," Warrick explained.

"It's OK. It's OK," Brass reassured the worried officer.

Sara looked at the body inside the Jeep. He was sitting in the front seat. There was a massive hole in his forehead between his eyes where the bullet sliced through thin air into his head. She then took the gun out of his hand.

"Were there any witnesses? …We're gonna need to seal off this lot," Warrick remarked.

"Tyner told you what happened here. Whose side are you on?" Brass wanted to know.

"The officer told me a fleeing suspect committed suicide. I'm just verifying his account. You know how this works, Brass. Can we clear the jeep so I can do my job?" Warrick pleaded Brass.

"Well, at least test the dead guy's hands for gun residue," Brass requested.

"At that proximity, G.S.R's invalid. They'd both be covered, no matter who fired," Sara piped in.

"Can we get to work?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah," Brass nodded.

With that said, Warrick walks away and Sara just stands there staring at Brass.

* * *

><p>Back in the garage, Grissom is examining the slab of concrete he and Nick found their latest victim encased in. He suddenly heard gentle humming approaching him. He looked up and saw Nick walking in humming a soft lullaby to his sleeping daughter bouncing her on his hip slightly. Grissom smile grew big. He knew without a doubt that Nick would be a good father when he met him. And the little girl in his arms is living proof of that. And the fact that he's raising her by himself since his wife is dead makes him better than good. It makes him the best father around. He watched as Nick laid Kady on the couch that just happened to be nearby before covering her with a blanket and his jacket…and Grissom's as well (not that Grissom cared). He kissed Kady's cheek after finishing his lullaby.<p>

"You brought the foundation of the house to our lab?" Nick stated.

"It's a 6x3 foot section. When the concrete dried, it preserved a partial impression of our Jane Doe. Did you find out anything about the house?" Grissom asked.

"You mean inbetween getting my daughter ready to bed?" Nick laughed, "I pulled the permits. Summercliff was built five years ago on nothing but desert."

"That would explain why the body was so desiccated," Grissom remarked.

"House was sold subsequent to completion. So the homeowner isn't a suspect. Homicide's running a missing persons check," Nick added.

Nick reached out to touch the slab…only to be stopped by his boss. Grissom gave Nick the look. Sheepishly, Nick smiled and withdrew his hand.

"Well, if it wasn't for a leaky pipe, she might have been down there forever," Grissom sighed.

"I think our killer was counting on that," Nick pointed out.

Grissom went to glance at Nick but he saw him looking after his sleeping daughter by tucking her cold arm underneath the warm, cozy layers of blanket and jackets. Kady moaned in her sleep and rolled onto her side. Grissom smiled at the sight before turning back to the concrete. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Gilbert Grissom is a giant cuddly teddy bear. Tell him I said that, I'll make you a murder victim in my CSI story.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in another part of the crime lab, Warrick is sitting at the lab table pondering something about his latest case with the officer-involved shooting. Sara walked inside and sat next to him.<p>

"Hey," she greeted.

"Why would a guy speed it all the way down the Strip just to pull over and cap himself?" Warrick pondered aloud.

"What are you getting at, Warrick?" Sara asked.

Warrick said nothing in return. He just dropped his pen on the table and picked up one of the weapons that were confiscated from the crime scene. It happened to be the gun he was studying.

"Officer's weapon: Smith and Wesson 5906," Warrick said.

"Standard issue," Sara commented, causing Warrick to pick up the cartridge.

"One bullet missing. Nothing standard about it," Warrick remarked.

"Both guns are nine millimetre automatics. Brass isn't gonna like this," Sara realised.

"I don't give a damn what Brass likes," Warrick retorted.

"Like I do? If Tuner's dirty, he goes down. I just know what happens when you piss off the P.D," Sara defended.

"Yeah. Its war," Warrick added.

* * *

><p>AAAAAAAAH! THE SPIDER IS BACK! Sorry. Again. Fear of spiders. I'm not kidding about Stevie, though. Grissom even has his pet spider out of its cage and letting it crawl around his palm. A woman walked up to the door. She was milky pale, had blonde hair and is very beautiful. She knocked on his door.<p>

"Gil Grissom?" she asked, causing Grissom to look up, "Or should I call you spiderman?"

"It's harmless," Grissom reassured her.

"Of course it is," Teri agreed as she walked in and admired the spider, "Orange-kneed tarantula. Nice specimen."

"The tarantula's touch is very gentle," Grissom explained.

"It leaves no prints. They move without a trace. May I?" Teri asked politely.

She held out her hand and carefully allows the tarantula to crawl to the palm of her hand, much to Grissom's astonishment. She let out a noise in appreciation. Grissom heard footsteps. Cute footsteps. His suspicions were confirmed when Kadelin skipped into his office, causing him to smile.

"Hey, alligator," Grissom greeted happily as he placed Kady on his lap and kissed her cheek, "Playing hide and seek with your daddy again?"

"He hasn't found me yet," Kady boasted proudly.

"Who's this cute little alligator?" Teri asked sweetly as she pinched her cheek.

"I'm Kady," Kady introduced herself, "Uncle Gil's my Godfather. He's really cool. He's got bugs and everything."

"Maybe I should introduce myself," Teri suggested.

"No need. Teri Miller needs no introduction," Grissom remarked, "I need you to make me a face."

"Of course. Perhaps Kady can come with us," Teri suggested.

"Can I, Uncle Gil? Can I? Please?" Kady asked sweetly.

"Of course you can," Grissom answered as he settled Kady on his hip and they walked away.

* * *

><p>"I didn't kill him! That's what I told I.A. It's what I told my superior. It's what I'm telling you," Tyner explained to Warrick and Sara with annoyance evident in his voice.<p>

"Officer Tyner, your gun – there's a bullet missing from the magazine," Sara announced.

"I don't top off. I know it's against regulation. But the 14th bullet puts pressure on the spring. And the gun can jam," Tyner defended.

"Can anyone confirm your story?" Warrick asked.

"It's not a story!" Tyner snapped as he bolted to his feet.

"Whoa," Sara commented.

"And no. I don't tell people how I carry," Tyner finally answered.

"Do you?" Warrick pressed.

"Check the other magazines," Tyner suggested.

"What the hell's going on here?" Brass demanded as he barged into the interrogation room.

"We're just having a talk with Officer Tyner here," Warrick explained to Brass.

"Next time, don't start without me. I'm the union rep on this one," Brass announced.

"Then you should know. Tyner's magazine: one bullet shy," Sara told him.

"Is the expended round still missing?" Brass asked.

"Yeah. It's not in the body. Bullet's a round point. Wound was a through-and-through," Sara answered.

"I did not fire a single round," Tyner repeated.

"And with a record like yours, we're supposed to just take you at your word?" Sara asked.

"Five civilian complaints – three for excessive force. Two I.A investigations," Warrick read out.

"I was cleared!" Tyner defended.

"I'm sure you were," Warrick agreed sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean? I don't have to take this crap!" Tyner yelled to the two CSIs.

"Tyner, sit down. Sit down. What you do need is for these guys to go out and find the missing bullet," Brass told him before turning to Sara and Warrick, "So what are you waiting for?"

"I guess it's a good thing I sealed off that crime scene," Warrick remarked.

* * *

><p>Back in the garage, Teri was working on the partial mould of the face left in the slab of concrete. Grissom and Kady watched her work behind her in amazement.<p>

"What's that there?" Kady asked cutely as she pointed to the mould Teri was applying.

"It's like a human jell-o mold. The impression's only a partial. It's not gonna be easy," Teri remarked.

"They told me you were the top forensic artist in the country," Grissom pointed out.

"And Canada," Teri added, "I didn't say I couldn't do it," Teri got a pail, "Give me your hand. Kady, you can help too. It's as much science as art."

She guided Grissom and Kady to take a scoop of the molding substance and together, they placed it in the indentation within the concrete slab. They continued their artistic work. Aw man. If only Nick was doing this activity instead of Grissom. Perfect father-daughter moment. Right there. And he's not even here. A little while later, the mold dried and became solid. Carefully, Teri removed the mold and takes it over to the lamp to work on it. Grissom and Kady watch from over her shoulder.

"It doesn't look like anything," Grissom stated.

"Give it time," Kady repremended her godfather.

"No light, no shadows. No shadows, no perspective," Teri added in agreement before tilting the small sample, "Now look."

Teri is now sitting at the table with the head and half mold in front of her. She was ready to officially create a face. Grissom sat on the seat next to her with Kady on his lap.

"So teach us," Grissom kindly requested.

With a smile, Teri carefully removed Kady from Grissom's lap and placed her on her own lap. Grissom smiled at how quickly his new acquaintance and his goddaughter were bonding. She gave Kady a small paintbrush, handed Grissom another one and grabbed one herself.

"OK. First, I'm finishing off the plaster mold. We can't give her life with only half a face. Although most faces appear that way and the thin layer of slip makes the plaster and clay appear seamless," Teri began explaining as she guided Kady into helping her apply the mold.

Moments later, the three of them were painting the face. There were a few moments where Teri would stop and help Kady. But that rarely happened. Kady was a natural at making a facial reconstruction. Grissom even made remarks about how Nick had an artist on his hands.

"Her cheekbones and nasal spine indicate nordic descent. I've seen a few Norwegian brunettes. But your girl's probably a blonde," Teri told them.

She and Kady grabbed a blonde wig and placed it on the head. Together, they styled it to suit the face. Next, Teri grabbed a pair of brown eyes.

"Brown eyes? I thought you said she was nordic," Grissom recalled.

Teri and Kady placed the eyes in the head and Teri explained,

"But in this country, brown is a dominant eye colour. I was hoping to use Kady as an example of that. But her eyes are hazal. Beautiful hazal eyes, might I add. And, more importantly, brown photographs better. You wanna get her face out there, don't you?"

"Yeah. I'm sure someone needs closure and somebody else needs to go to jail," Grissom remarked as Teri and Kady finished their work.

"There she is," Teri and Kady announced proudly before moving out of the way so Grissom can take a photograph.

* * *

><p>"<em>As we first reported yesterday, the remains of an unidentified caucasian female were unearthed in Summercliff. The five-foot-four inch woman was approximately 20 years old.<em>"

Grissom and Kady were now in the break room watching the news. Kady was sitting on the table with her juice and Grissom leant on the ledge next to her. In the background, Nick was getting his cup of coffee. Eventually, he joined Grissom and handed him his cup of coffee.

"Here ya go," Nick said as he used his free hand to pull Kady to his side.

"Thanks," Grissom murmured appreciatively.

"_Authorities are asking for the public's help in identifying the victim. If you have any information, please call the Las Vegas P.D Hotline._"

"Hotlines… Hit or miss," Catherine remarked as she walked into the break room.

"I don't know. In my experience, people usually remember a beautiful woman," Grissom remarked, causing Catherine to look at him expectantly and Grissom to glance at Nick nervously, "Uh, Nick, weren't you going to go and do the, uh…at the…?"

Eventually, Nick got the hint and scooped Kady in his arms.

"Yeah. Yeah. OK. I'll do that," Nick stuttered before running out of the break room.

"So I saw Eddie. He actually…seemed scared," Catherine told him.

"Did that make you happy?" Grissom asked.

"Um…no. I'm not really sure what I…feel," Catherine answered honestly.

"You're not still in love with Eddie?" Grissom sighed in frustration, causing Catherine to sigh in return, "Catherine, you have to hand off the case. Warrick can just double up."

Catherine didn't say anything in return. She actually didn't get the chance to say anything back. David Phillips just happened to walk into the break room. Nice timing, David!

"Uh…Grissom? Doctor Robbins wants to see you. Something about your skeleton," David announced before leaving.

Grissom went to leave too…before looking at Catherine and desperately reminding her, "OK. You have to pass off the case. If you compromise the investigation, there's no turning back. You could hurt Eddie as much as you could help him," before leaving.

* * *

><p>Grissom walked into the autopsy room. When he did, he saw Doc Robbins standing over the skeleton looking at certain areas. Mainly the ribs and the posterior skull where the killer injuries resided.<p>

"Hey. I've already seen the marks on the ribs," Grissom reminded his friend.

"Uh-huh. But did you see the hairline fracture on the posterior skull?" Doc Robbins retorted.

"No," Grissom grumbled as he slid his glasses own and went for a closer look at the posterior skull.

"Easy to miss. But it screams blunt-force trauma. Also, the middle ear has three bones. They're dusted with sodium and lodged against the malleus. I found a tiny ball of earwaz with grains of sand," Doc Robbins explained.

"Salt and sand. Killed at the beach?" Grissom guessed.

"Not ruling it out," Doc Robbins shrugged in response.

"Grissom. Hey, doc," Nick greeted as he walked into the autopsy room, "Five callers all I.D'd the same woman – Faye Green – and her mother just confirmed."

* * *

><p>"I need to know what happened to my daughter," Mrs Green pleaded.<p>

Currently, Grissom was over at Mrs Green's residence asking questions and explaining to the distraught woman about her daughter's sudden passing. But it hasn't been easy.

"We're trying to figure that out for you," Grissom told her honestly before looking at the photo album before him, "She was quite an athlete, huh?"

"Mm-hmm. Yeah," Mrs Green agreed quietly.

"Did she scuba dive?" Grissom asked.

"She had just been certified," Mrs Green answered.

"Dud, uh, Faye…before she disappeared, go on any vacation? Go diving or spend time at the beach?" Grissom questioned.

"No. Not that I recall. No," Mrs Green shook her head.

"And she, uh…lived here with you until she disappeared?" Grissom assumed.

"No. She had just moved in with her boyfriend. Jason Hendler. He still lives on Medley Place," Mrs Green corrected.

"And the, uh…police interviewed him after she disappeared?" Grissom recalled.

"A couple of times. He had nothing to do with this," Mrs Green denied.

"Well, how do you know that?" Grissom demanded.

"He loved my daughter. He was good to her," Mrs Green told him.

"Did they…ever fight?" Grissom wanted to know.

"The first few months of a relationship, nobody fights," Mrs Green retorted before whispering tearfully, "She was crazy about him." That was when she started crying.

* * *

><p>"I've given Eddie Willows twenty lap dances. He never got rough until last night," April Lewis explained to Detective Evans in the examination room in the hospital.<p>

"In the parking lot," Evans added.

"Yeah. He asked me to go for drinks, you know? But out in the parking lot, he starts kissing me and I kind of laughed it off. But…then he grabbed me and he slams me against the wall and…that pig," April recalled in discuss.

Catherine appeared in the doorway of the examination room. She looked inside and saw the woman who accused her ex-husband of rape. She watched as she told her side of the story. Catherine still couldn't determine whether Eddie was telling the truth or lying like always. However, things will soon come to light…

"Hi," Catherine greeted as she walked in, "Evans, I'm sorry I'm late. I'm Catherine…just Catherine. I'm a forensic scientist."

"Scientist…wow. You look normal," April complimented.

"Thanks," Catherine responded nervously.

"Catherine, you sure you want…?" Evans asked Catherine quietly.

"Yeah," Catherine nodded as she sat in front of April and noticed the bruises, "Those bruises from last night?"

"Yeah. A guy pinned me against the wall," April told her.

"Sexual assault nurse collect a kit yet?" Catherine questioned.

"She just finished," Evans answered.

"Why don't you see if you can catch her? I'd like to get a sample from under her fingernails," Catherine said, causing Evans to leave.

"Uh…what kind of sample?" April asked nervously.

"Anything that might show up from a…a struggle," Catherine explained.

"You'd think what that nurse took down there would be enough. The weird thing is…I liked the guy," April confessed.

* * *

><p>Currently, Warrick and Sara were searching around the whole parking lot for the missing bullet. So far, they still weren't having any luck. Sara even had a metal detector in her possession. Warrick was searching along the fences of the parking lot. But Lady Luck is NOT on their side.<p>

"It's not here," Sara said.

"Bullets just don't disappear," Warrick denied.

As they had their little debate about how bullets just don't disappear from a crime scene, a young man who happened to work there approached them at the edge of the parking lot. It took a little while, but Sara eventually spotted him.

"Excuse me. No one's allowed inside the tape," Sara told him.

"I saw what happened," he announced, causing Sara and Warrick to take an interest in him.

"Have you talked to the police?" Warrick asked.

The valet shook his head and replied, "Police make me nervous. You guys aren't cops, are you?"

"We're Crime Scene Investigators. We need to know what you saw," Warrick said to him.

"I was kinda taking a break, hanging out at the P.T Cruiser. I was laid back in the heated driver's seat when I heard the siren," he began explaining.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_True to his word, the valet was sitting in the P.T Cruiser. In the heated seat, to be exact. The lucky bastard. Then he heard the police siren approaching from the Strip. Curiosity got the best of him. He turned his head so he could get a better view of the event._

"_PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL!_

"_I DIDN'T DO IT! *Valet leans forward to get a better view* …WHATEVER YOU THINK I DID! MAN, I'M LOOKING AT THREE STRIKES! *Valet climbs out of car* ...I'M NOT GOING BACK! JUST LET ME SHOW YOU MY REGISTRATION!"_

"_NO! HANDS ON THE WHEEL!_

_The valet hears the gunshot and hears the smoke. That is when he realises what had just happened.  
><em>_End flashback_

"And, just like that, the officer fired?" Warrick summed up.

"Just like that," the valet agreed.

"Missing bullet, eyewitness; we better tell Grissom we got a war," Sara remarked.

* * *

><p>Warrick is now back in the change room at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. He is changing his shirt. Oooh. Time for us to appreciate the view we have here… DAMN YOU, GILBERT GRISSOM! THIS WAS OUR GAWKING TIME HERE! Whatever. Personally, I think Nick's the better-looking one anyways.<p>

"I heard about your eyewitness. A valet who joyrides. He sounds reliable," Grissom remarked, "So, uh, how's the thing going on Eddie Willows?"

"What thing?" Warrick demanded.

"The thing I told Catherine to pass off to you," Grissom clarified.

Warrick realised the situation and tried to cover up both his and Catherine's asses, "Oh, good. Um…we just put some stuff through the lab."

"Get ahold of DMV?" Grissom asked.

"I was just about to," Warrick answered.

Grissom shut Warrick's locker and arose from the bench in the middle of the walkway. At that moment, Catherine walked into the locker room. Wow. Just as Warrick was about to get busted.

"Warrick, why would you call the DMV on a rape charge?" Grissom wanted to know.

Sorry, Warrick. But you just got busted by your boss.

"OK. I didn't hand it off," Catherine confessed.

"Really?" Grissom asked sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, Warrick," Catherine apologised.

"If you want me to suave anyone, I got to know the shot," Warrick remarked.

"I know," Catherine nodded before Warrick left the room, "I'm sorry! *turns to Grissom* I'm doing this for Lindsey."

"You so much as breathe on the evidence, it's contaminated and I end up the bad guy," Grissom repremended her.

"Eyes! No hands!" Catherine defended.

"What's the status?" Grissom questioned.

"Skin samples from under the woman's fingernails are consistent with Ed's. I saw some bruises. But Eddie's style has always been very…involved…vigorous," Catherine searched for the right word.

"Vigorous?" Grissom repeated confused.

"She's trying to tell you Eddie likes it rough!" Warrick called from the other side of the locker room.

"Thank you, Warrick," Catherine thanked, "Eddie said she was into it."

"'He said. She said?' It's about the evidence, Catherine," Grissom reminded her before walking away, "And you may not like where it takes you."

* * *

><p>"So how many grains of sand in the ocean, huh?" Greg asked Kady after they examined the rain of sand from the victim's ear.<p>

"I don't know," Kady sighed.

"Well, I don't care about the ocean. Just the sand in my skeleton. Can you pinpoint a beach?" Nick asked.

"I don't know. I might have to do some field research. Hey, you think Grissom would send me to Hawaii?" Greg questioned hopefully, "And if so, can I take Kady with me?"

"No! You can't take her!" Nick immediately decided as he pulled Kady to his chest, "And why don't you ask Grissom yourself?"

"Ask Grissom what?" Grissom demanded as he walked in, causing Greg to turn around and stand up straight.

"Oh, nothing. I, uh…I was just telling Nick about your sand. Well, it's not sand. It's not natural anyway. Here, check this out," Greg invited, causing Grissom to look himself, "Now, if this were natural sand, the surface would be smooth. This looks more like Fremont Street on a Saturday night. *notices Grissoms' confused expression* Roguh."

"Could the particles be sediment from the concrete where we found her?" Nick asked as he bounced Kady on his hip slightly.

"Nope," Kady shook her head.

"No?" Nick repeated in a baby voice.

"Nope," Kady repeated in return.

"Kady's right. I analuzed the mineral content. It's feldspar and quartz. That's crushed gray sandstone. It's manmade in a rock crusher," Greg explained to them.

"What does this mean?" Nick wanted to know so desperately.

"It means she wasn't killed in Hawaii," Grissom answered for Greg, causing Greg to freeze nervously, "Other than that, he has no idea."

Nick laughed at Greg's pain. He elbowed him in a playful manner. Kady wrapped her arms around Greg's neck and Greg hugged her in return.

"Oh, you acknowledge her and not me?" Nick scoffed in mock offence.

"Her, I like," Greg teased as he held her to his chest.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, children," Nick grumbled, causing Kady and Greg to poke their tongues out.

* * *

><p>"Is this payback, Warrick? Is that what this is? I was tough on you, so Officer Tyner takes my heat?" Brass boomed at Warrick.<p>

"That's how you think I work?" Warrick asked in disbelief.

"Brass, this has nothing to do with anything," Sara defended Warrick.

"D.A is filing charges. On the testimony of a bleary-eyed car jockey who was 40 feet from the Jeep!" Brass announced to them with nothing but pure disbelief lacing his stealy voice like cocaine.

Unbeknownst to them, Joe Tyner himself appears in the hallway. Difference: he's not in a police uniform. He turned around the corner and saw Brass arguing with Warrick and Sara. About him too.

"Eyewitness is a bonus. Your cop's magazine was one bullet shy," Sara reminded him.

That was when Joe had enough. He dropped his bag and approached the three crime-fighters, looking as though he was ready to start a fight. Well…he is.

"That's you CSIs, always counting bullets," Tyner remarked cruelly.

"What's he doing here?" Warrick demanded.

"Joe, you shouldn't be here," Brass said.

"You show up with your latex gloves and your little fancy metal boxes…your little powders…you have no idea what it's like to put your life on the line everyday!" Tyner yelled at them.

The chaos got loud enough that it caused Grissom to look away from his goddaughter to look down the hallway where the chaos was going down. He wondered what the hell is going on.

"Uncle Gil, what's happening?" Kady asked worriedly.

"I don't know, alligator. Stay here. I'll be right back," Grissom promised before running out.

"Oh, you mean dealing with punk-ass cops who hide behind their union reps?" Warrick retorted.

That pulled the final straw for Tyner. That got him to finally lunge at Warrick. The cop pushed the CSI in the chest, causing Warrick to stumble backwards in shock.

"Wow, wow, guys! Get off him!" Sara pleaded.

"Hey! Hey, Joe!" Brass yelled.

Grissom was approaching them with Nick hot on his heels. Kady was following them. Nick was holding her against him and covering her eyes and ears. She didn't need to see or hear this. Eventually, Brass managed to separate Tyner and Warrick.

"You're just a psycho! You don't deserve a badge!" Warrick was really egging Tyner on, pissing him off.

That worked well. Tyner broke from Brass' grip and ran at Warrick. When he reached him, Grissom stepped between them.

"Cut it out! Not in my lab, pal!" Grissom interviened.

"Scientists! I bet you've never even drawn your weapon," Tyner remarked.

"Yeah. I hope I never have to. Nick, walk this guy out the door," Grissom requested.

"Gladly," Nick growled, "Now, let's go."

As Nick escorted Tyner out, Kady ran to Warrick scared out of her young life. Sensing her fear, he immediately picked her up and cradled her against his chest whispering soothing words as she cried against him.

"This is your fault, Gil. Your nose is so far down a microscope you have no idea what your people are doing!" Brass snapped at Grissom.

"Yeah, I know one thing: my guys will not bend and they will not be intimidated," Grissom retorted.

"Hey, I sat in your chair. Your guys have one job: to find the evidence. So where the hell is the missing bullet? Huh?" Brass wanted to know before walking away.

* * *

><p>Catherine is sitting at her table enjoying a nice and peaceful lunch. Well, until…<p>

"Eddie," Catherine greeted.

Speak of the devil. Guess who decided to join Catherine for a peaceful lunch. No. Not Kady. Eddie. In case you hadn't guessed.

"Catherine," Eddie returned, "I'll take a root beer."

"Sure," the waitress responded.

"What are you doing here?" Catherine demanded.

"I knew you'd be here. You got a routine: turkey club, no bacon," Eddie answered.

"You could be a detective," Catherine remarked as her sandwich arrived, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the waitress nodded before walking away.

"Well, you obviously made bail. Did you get a lawyer?" Catherine asked.

"I got you and the truth. Who needs a lawyer?" Eddie scoffed, only to have Catherine ignore him, "I came to tell you how great you are. It always comes out wrong. When I married you, I married up. I know that."

"It wasn't all bad," Catherine smirked, causing both of them to smile (Eddie in triumph).

* * *

><p>"You think the bullet's somewhere in the jeep?" Sara asked Warrick as they stared at the jeep in the CSI garage.<p>

"It's not in the body. It's not at the crime scene. I like our odds," was Warrick's response.

"Let's do it," Sara smirked as she removed her jacket.

Over the time it took, Sara and Warrick dismantled the jeep piece by piece hoping to find the small cylinder metal filled with gunpowder. Before they knew it, the seats were sitting on the garage floor. Eventally, they were taking off the hood and dismantling the front bumper. Then they just stood there staring at the dismantled jeep. No luck.

"We have searched every single piece of metal. I think hide-and-seek is over," Sara remarked.

"Yeah. We've searched every piece of metal," Warrick agreed before noticing something paticular, "Spare tire."

He approached the spare tire and began searching it. Ah-ha! Maybe Lady Luck IS on their side! Warrick just found the missing bullet.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Sara said.

"The tire sucked up the bullet and the treads covered its tracks," Warrick summised.

"We match the bullet to the cop's gun, the case is airtight," Sara added happily.

That's what lead Sara and Warrick to the Ballistics Lab where they were comparing the bullet recovered from the jeep and the test fire done by Bobby D here.

"There's a match," Warrick announced proudly before letting his partner take a look, "We got Tyner. One bad cop going down."

"Well, actually, Warrick, the evidence round wasn't from the cop's gun. It was from the suspects," Bobby corrected, which destroyed Warrick and Sara's little victory party. Whoa. Mood-killer much there, Bobby?

"No way!" Sara exclaimed in disbelief.

* * *

><p>Uh-oh. Strip bar. Boys! We don't have time to ogle at the strippers and exotic dancers here! Girls! Stop wishing to be them! Trust me! You don't wanna be! Dead-end job right there! Young children…you shouldn't be reading this story to begin with! It's rated M for a reason!<p>

"These guys never give up anything on their girls," Evans told Catherine.

"Well, let me give it a try," Catherine suggested before walking up to Ted Benson, the owner, "Excuse me, sir. Can we see your permits?"

"Oh, hi, Gorgeous! How are you?" he asked before kissing her cheek.

"OK, Ted," Catherine responded with a smile.

"How ya doing?" Ted wanted to know.

"I'm OK," Catherine answered before sitting next to him.

"Hi. You should have seen this lady dance. Oh, was she good! You still working with the cops?" Ted questioned.

"Can't seem to get off the night shift," Catherine laughed.

"You dressed like that?" Evans asked in disbelief once pointing to an exotic dancer nearby.

"If you wanna call that dressed," Catherine laughed, "Yeah, Evans. Hey, Ted. You heard about this thing with Eddie and April?"

"Yeah. The night guy told me about it. Boy. Eddie never changes, huh?" Ted remarked before noticing that Catherine's watching a girl dance around the pole, "Bring back memories?"

"You mind if I look around?" Catherine asked.

"Help yourself," Ted invited.

"Thanks, Ted," Catherine thanked before approaching the locker room.

When Catherine walked into the locker room, she immediately headed to the locker with April's name on it. She opened it and glanced inside at the contents before her. Make-up, clothes, toiletries…ah-ha! Vaginal Contraceptive Film! The dissolving kind too! Ooooh, this is going to break the case wide open!

* * *

><p><em>DING DONG!<em>

"Can I help you?" Amy Hendler asked after she opened the door.

"Ma'am, my name is Gil Grissom. This is Nick Stokes," Grissom introduced before noticing Kady asleep in Nick's arms, "And Nick's daughter, Kady."

"Hi," Nick whispered.

"Honey, who's out there?" Jason Hendler asked as he approached them.

"Mr Hendler, we're criminalists from the Las Vegas Police Department," Grissom announced.

"What's this about?" Amy demanded.

"We're investigating the disappearance of Faye Green. May we come in?" Grissom kindly requested.

"Yes," Jason answered.

"Thank you," Nick nodded before walking inside.

"Honey, get some blankets," Jason kindly requested before Amy left to do so, "I noticed your daughter there. I thought while you're here, she could be at least comfortable on the couch."

"Thanks, man," Nick sighed in relief before laying her on the couch near the pillows.

Once Kady was settled in, they quietly sat around her. They talked quietly so they didn't disturb her. Although Kady slept like a log, they were still cautious. Nick even made remarks sometimes that she would sleep through a Vanilla Ice concert! **(AN: My older brother did that once. So I used that as an example.)**

"Did you find her?" Jason asked sadly.

"Yes. I'm afraid we did. She'd been dead for quite some time," Grissom announced.

"Hmm," Jason sighed before whispering, "You always hope…"

"Mr Hendler, would it be possible for us to look around?" Grissom questioned.

"Faye only lived here for about a month five years ago. I've got nothing to hide," Jason promised.

"Thank you," Grissom thanked.

"Thanks," Nick nodded before kissing Kady's cheek and leaving.

Grissom walked into another room in his part of the house search. That was when he noticed the large fish tank. As he peared inside, he saw the sand at the bottom of the tank. That's when he remembered the grains of sand inside Faye's ear. Jason, Amy and Nick entered the room behind him.

"A trigger and a lionfish," Grissom stated.

"Yeah. That's right," Jason agreed.

"Interesting choices. Violent. Carnivorous predators," Grissom commented.

Nick decided to take a walk around the room as he looked around. As he did, the floor squeaked. Not because of his weight. After all, Nick is 200 pounds of pure muscular hotness. BACK ON TRACK HERE, PEOPLE! Grissom didn't fail to notice the squeak the floor admitted.

"It's just a warped floorboard," Jason told them.

"It's been like that forever," Amy added.

"Mr Hendler, at any time, was your fish tank over here?" Grissom questioned.

"Maybe a while ago," Jason shrugged, "Why?"

"Did it ever overflow? Break?" Grissom pressed.

"Not that I recall," Jason answered honestly.

"You said I could look anywhere, right?" Grissom wanted to double-check.

"Yeah," Jason nodded.

"Got a pocket knife?" Grissom asked Nick.

"Yeah," Nick replied before handing it to him.

Grissom began prying at the warped floorboard with Nick's pocket knife. This worried the couple. What was this odd CSI doing? Why was he prying at the floorboards? What was he expecting to find there?

"What are you doing?" Jason demanded as Grissom removed the board.

"Pops in, pops out," Grissom retorted before glancing around the area only to find sand, "What do you find inside an hour glass? Mr Hendler, I think the tank was over here. I think it broke. I think you got water and artificial sand all over the place."

"I'd like you to leave now please," Jason requested.

"Fine. We'll go. We'll be back…with a warrant," Grissom promised.

* * *

><p>"So, Greg, what did the rape kit say?" Catherine asked as she walked into the Crime Lab before smiling at Kady's sleeping form.<p>

"Nonozunol-9, polyvinyl alcohol and…," Greg began reading.

"Glycerin?" Catherine finished.

"Yeah," Greg agreed in surprise.

"It's a contraceptive film," Catherine announced as she held up the box and pointing to the mug in Greg's hand, "What are you drinking?"

"Chamomile," Greg answered.

"May I?" Catherine asked.

"Sure," Greg nodded.

"Thank you," Catherine sighed in relief.

Catherine took the mug from Greg's grip and removed the tea bag that was still sitting inside. When the tea bag was disposed of, she poured the remaining liquid into a glass container that happened to be nearby. Oh, I see what she's doing…

"So you used to work at the French Palace?" Greg began slyly.

"That's right," Catherine agreed.

"You know, my friends and I used to go there," Greg continued.

"Really?" Catherine said in disbelief.

"Payday Fridays," Greg recalled.

"Uh-huh," Catherine said.

"Maybe I saw you perform?" Greg finished hopefully.

"Oh, I doubt it," Catherine sighed.

"Why?" Greg wanted to know.

Catherine smirked at Greg and said, "You would have remembered. *notices Greg's stunned face* You know, that's where I met Abby when she was here on spring break the year before she joined us."

"No way. You and Abby had met before?" Greg asked in disbelief.

"I was working a case there. Abby was interested in what I did. She helped me catch the killer. When we met up again, I bought her coffee as a thank-you present for helping me on the case. It was the day before she flew back to Boston for her final term at Harvard. She explained that when she graduated, she was going to go into forensics. You know, become a CSI somewhere. That was when I suggested that after she graduated, she apply for a job at the lab and I promised I'd put a good word in with Brass. So technically, I was the one who brought Nick and Abby together in the first place. I watched her gain a new life as a CSI with Nick and then…I watched her die after fighting just long enough to give Kady a fighting chance," Catherine sighed sadly.

"But we all got something good out of it. We got a potential CSI on our hands," Greg stated as he pointed to Kady asleep on the couch.

"Yes we did. Anyways, this film – it's kinda hard to detect because it dissolves with body heat. And, as you know, Greg, sex can make a body pretty hot," Catherine remarked as they waited for the film to dissolve.

"This stuff has to be inserted fifteen minutes to three hours before sex," Greg read from the box.

"Which means that April inserted the film while she was still at work," Catherine summised.

"But how could she have known to put the birth control in before she was raped?" Greg asked.

"Exactly," Catherine asked before disposing of the film and forceps into the container.

* * *

><p>"Guess where Jason Hendler was employed five years ago," Nick sing-songed as he approached Grissom with Kady skipping next to him.<p>

"Summbercliff Housing Development. A plumber, perhaps?" Grissom guessed.

"Close," Kady said.

"A subcontractor. How did you know?" Nick demanded.

"Why else would you two be so excited?" Grissom retorted.

"Hi, Teri!" Kady squealed excitedly as she hugged the older woman.

"Hey, Kady," Teri murmured as she hugged her back.

"Hey! You weren't going to say goodbye to me?" Grissom asked in disbelief.

"I'll meet you outside. Hi, Teri. Come on, butterfly," Nick instructed.

"Bye, Teri," Kady waved goodbye as she walked away with Nick.

"Thought I'd let you off easy. But I did tack up my number on your big fish corkboard…under cold cases," Teri reassured him.

"The ones that got away," Grissom sighed.

"Let's hope not," Teri smirked before walking away to go home.

* * *

><p>"So check it out. The laser is the path of the bullet. If you were Officer Tyner and you approached the suspect from the driver's side of the vehicle," Warrick began explaining.<p>

Currently, Sara, Warrick and Brass were in the garage at the Crime Lab. Sara and Warrick were showing Brass what they found and what they think happened at the parking lot with Tyner and the suspect.

"Vic was shot in the frontal lobe through the windhsield. There's no way I could shoot the guy from here and mimic that trajectory," Sara continued.

"The laws of physics trump the eyewitness. There's only one way this could've gone down," Warrick went on.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_I'LL SHOW YOU MY REGISTRATION!"_

"_PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL!"_

_That was when the suspect grabbed the gun from the glove compartment. In front of Officer Tyner, he pointed his gun to his own forehead and shot himself in the frontal lobe, killing him instantly.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Officer Tyner was telling the truth," Warrick summised.

"And that's a surprise?" Brass scoffed in disbelief.

"Ease up. Until now, none of us knew what really happened," Sara reminded the detective.

"So I bet you think I owe you one, huh?" Brass assumed.

"We work. We get paid. You don't owe me anything," Warrick retorted.

"Fine with me," Brass smirked before leaving the garage.

* * *

><p>"He promised me a million things. I got tired of him lying," April confessed as she got dressed for her show.<p>

"Like what? Marriage? Kids?" Catherine offered.

"Music videos. He kept telling me he'd put me in one but he never delivered," April cleared up.

"And for that, you set him up for rape?" Catherine concluded.

April sighed before explaining, "No. It wasn't supposed to go this far, OK? I got this friend over at the trop. She got this high roller on a rape charge. He paid a ton to make it go away."

"Wait a minute. You think that Eddie's got money?" Catherine asked in disbelief.

"He is in the music business," April defended.

"He reps some bands off-strip," Catherine retorted,

"No. I met a producer friend of his from LA. And he's always throwing money around this place," April denied, causing Catherine to start laughing, "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Catherine sighed.

* * *

><p>Grissom, Nick and Kady were back at the Hendler residence. They were executing a search warrant. Grissom took the same floorboard off the floor as Jason and Amy watched on nervously. Grissom looked at the same place he found the sand in. Sadly, he couldn't find it anymore.<p>

"I see you've cleaned house. I thought you might," Grissom remarked.

"I vacuumed up the sand. Big deal. Will you at least tell me what you're doing here?" Jason demanded.

"I'm working, sir. Officer, will you hit the lights, please?" Grissom kindly requested.

The lights inside the room were turned off. That was when Grissom started spraying the entire floor with a substance that is familiar to CSIs everywhere.

"You're getting my floor wet!" Jason exclaimed.

"It's luminal, sir. It dries quickly," Nick reassured as he and Kady walked in.

"Surface is non-reactive," Grissom announced.

"I know what you're doing. You're looking for blood," Jason realised.

"Yep," Kady nodded.

"My husband didn't do anything. Why are you harassing him?" Amy wanted to know.

"Let's try the ALS," Grissom suggested.

"Why use the Alternate Light Source if the luminal didn't pick up anything?" Nick asked.

"Luminal works on the surface. ALS chases the protein molecules in blood. It actually penetrates the wood. These floorboards are all made of maple – high-end. But they've been lacquered," Grissom explained.

"Who lacquers maple unless they're trying to hide something?" Nick smirked.

"Yeah," Grissom and Kady agreed.

"Stay here, Kady," Nick kindly instructed.

He then set up the ALS. When he turned the special light on, he began sweeping the floor. Kady was fascinated by the glowing blobs the ALS emitted from the floor.

"Pretty," Kady murmured.

_Solving a crime and entertaining my daughter at the same time = best father in the world._ Nick thought to himself with a grin. By the way, the blobs the ALS is emitting are blood drops and hand prints. Five-year-old blood drops and handprints, to be exact. Well, they had just enough. They knew that Faye was killed here five years ago before buried in cement under that house. They just needed to work out the who, the what and the why.

"Turn it off, Nick. Officer, hit the lights, please," Grissom requested kindly before the lights returned, "Mr Hendler, let me tell you what I think happened to Faye. On the night of her disappearance, the two of you got in a heated argument. Suffering a concussion, Faye falls to the floor. In the heat of the moment, you decide to make it final. But Faye surprises you. She fights back. She pushes you off. She crawls a few feet away and you move in for the final attack. One thing I don't know, though. What did you use to kill her?"

"I didn't kill her," Jason gritted.

"Well, whatever the weapon, it wasn't a knife. But it worked. You drove her body over to Summercliff where you were employed and you buried her in wet concrete," Grissom went on.

"I worked the Summercliff job less than a week. Ask Amy. She worked for the same contractor!" Jason defended.

"That's right. He got a better job in Reno. Jason wasn't even in Vegas when Faye disappeared," Amy added.

"And you painted the floors, covered your tracks for what, aesthetic reasons?" Nick asked in disbelief.

"Five years is a long time. But eventually, the past catches up to everybody," Grissom stated.

"I didn't kill Faye! I loved her! I STILL LOVE HER!" Jason snapped.

That caused everybody to freeze.

"Uh-oh," Kady murmured.

That was when Jason realized what he said. He also realized who saw his sudden outburst. Immediately, he turned to his wife who was shaking her head in denial.

"Amy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Jason apologised.

"You still love her?" Amy whispered in disbelief.

Jason didn't deny it. His outburst was true. He still loves her. Even though she's been dead five years. Nick decided that he had seen enough. He wanted to make an arrest. Now. It was time to put this case to bed.

"Officer, would you please arrest Mr Hendler?" Nick requested.

"Call my father. He'll get a lawyer. I didn't do it. it's OK," Jason reassured Amy as he was hand-cuffed and taken away.

"I'll ride along with the cops. Bring homicide up to speed. This is now a fresh crime scene," Grissom announced.

"I'll get to work. Hey. Can you take Kady with you? She has to go to bed soon anyways," Nick stated as he kissed Kady's cheek, "I'll see you soon, OK, baby?"

"OK, daddy" Kady nodded as Grissom scooped her in his arms and walked out.

With that, Nick glanced over at Amy. She was still standing there. She was still stunned over her husband's confession moments before. He eventually left the room to grab his CSI kit. In the next room, Nick reaches for his latex gloves. His eyes were drawn to the framed pictures surrounding him. So many adventures in such a short lifetime. Hello! What do we have here? This is an interesting photograph here. In the photo was Jason and Amy. They were rock climbing. But that's not what interested Nick about this photo. It was the objects they were holding. He heard Grissom repeat what he said in the autopsy room in his head:

"_The intrument had to be slightly curved with some kind of serrated edge like crocodile teeth…_"

"Mrs Hendler, do you and your husband do much rock climbing?" Nick asked.

"Yes."

He heard Amy's voice behind him. However, when he turned to face her, he wasn't met with Amy's face. He was met with the barrel of an ugly black gun. The safety was switched off. Basically, this is a gun this is trained to kill. It IS ready to kill. One pull of the trigger and BAM! He's dead.

"That's what I killed her with," Amy confessed to Nick.

"I can prove I was in Reno when Faye disappeared. I've got records. You don't wanna talk? Fine. But I've got a question for you. Why do you care so much about the floors? I mean, Amy paints them every spring. It's no big deal," Jason blurted to them.

That was when Jason was loaded into the back of the police car. That caused Grissom to freeze where he stood. In fact, he almost dropped Kady in the shock of it all. Kady's eyes suddenly widened and she started tugging at his sleeve. Grissom immediately turned to face her expectantly. Kady didn't say anything to him aloud. But she did whisper her fears into his ear. That caused Grissom's eyes to widen. The feeling she had now? She's been right about it before.

Back inside, Nick was scared shitless. In fact, he was close to crying. He slowly backed away from Amy and the gun. His eyes never left the barrel. He started thinking of what he would be leaving behind if she pulled the trigger and killed him. This job, his family, his friends, Kady… The fact that he'd be leaving his baby girl behind made his heart break.

"Jason was in Reno. I came here to tell Faye that we would be together again," Amy began explaining.

"Mrs Hendler, put the gun down," Nick pleaded.

"Did you know he was engaged to me when he met her?" Amy asked rhetorically.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Two words for you: bitch fight. Faye tried to walk away from Amy. But Amy wouldn't have it. In fact, she grabbed Amy and another struggle ensued. A struggle that ended with Faye going head first into the fish tank._

"_Where are you going?" Amy screeched._

"_STOP IT!" Faye begged her._

_That didn't stop Amy from breaking up Faye and Jason. She grabbed the mountain climbing pick and beat Faye to death with it.  
><em>_End flashback_

"There was blood…everywhere. No one else could see it…but I knew it was there. A dead body is so heavy," Amy moaned.

Nick nodded his head in understanding. His eyes were clouded by unshed tears. He wanted to live. He wanted to see his daughter grow up into the strong, confident beautiful young woman he knew she would grow into. He wanted to see her become a famous singer or a kick-ass CSI. And if Amy pulled the trigger, he knew he would miss out on all that and Kady would be an orphan.

"Mrs, Hendler. I'm a good listener. You've gotta give me the gun," Nick pleaded with a shakey voice.

"I can't!" Amy cried, "I'm sorry."

"No! WAIT!" Nick shouted.

"But you arrested my husband," Amy reminded him.

"WAIT!" Nick sobbed.

"Mrs Hendler."

That voice caused Amy to turn around. She was met with Grissom pointing his own gun at her. Unbeknownst to any of them, Kady was hiding behind Grissom's legs. Nothing was going to separate her from her daddy. Have you seen how close they are?

"Nick, don't move," Grissom instructed her, "Please. I don't want to fire my gun anymore than you do. For five years, you've been washing the blood off your hands. Let's both put down the guns."

"I can't!" Amy repeated.

"Daddy?"

To Nick's surprise, Kady peaked from behind Grissom's legs. He almost broke down there. Kady had her own tears streaming down her cheeks too. That broke Nick's heart even more. He and Kady felt the same emotions on some occassions. That's how Kady got Grissom to come here.

"You see this little girl? He's all she has left. She's all he has left. Her mother's gone. And if Nick leaves, she doesn't have anybody. Do you really want to make her an orphan? Do you really want to separate a father from his daughter?" Grissom asked.

That was enough to cause Amy to drop her gun. Grissom slowly approached her with his gun down. Immediately, Kady ran down the stairs crying to her dad. Nick fell to his knees and held her tight to his chest. Together, they cried right there on the floor. Grissom took the gun away and glanced at Nick and Kady on the floor.

"You OK, Nick?" Grissom asked worriedly.

"Yeah," Nick whispered tearfully.

"Come on," Grissom whispered.

With those words said, Amy was arrested for the murder of Faye Green and threatening the life of an law enforcement officer. My guess is: she either got 25 to life or the death penelty. Depends on how the law works in the State of Nevada. So I'll just leave it to whatever you desire.

* * *

><p>"Were you scared, daddy?" Kady asked Nick innocently.<p>

At the moment, Nick and Kady were home (Grissom insisted) and Nick was giving Kady a bath before she went to bed. He treasured these few special moments he had with his young daughter. With his line of work as a CSI, he could never predict what would happen to them. One day, he could leave for work and never come home to his daughter. Or his daughter could become involved in an investigation in a way he didn't want her to be involved. I think you guys get what I mean so I shan't go on.

"Honestly? Yeah," Nick confessed as he rinced the conditioner out of her hair with care, "Butterfly, there's something you have to understand, OK? Even the guy who seems to be made out of the toughest steel or have the heart colder than the coldest place in the world, can be scared in the scariest situation. I guess what I'm trying to say is…it's OK to be scared. It's what makes us human."

"If you're not, you're an alien?" Kady guessed.

"You're an alien. Yeah," Nick agreed with a laugh, "But do you wanna know why I was scared?"

"Cause you could've died," Kady answered for him.

_How the heck did she learn about the word 'die'? OK. Greg is SO DEAD tomorrow._ "There was that. But I was scared of losing you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Kady. And nothing is going to keep us apart. People have tried before. But they always failed to do so. What makes you think they can now? You and me, baby; we're unstoppable!" Nick proclaimed in a funny manner with a Superman pose, earning giggles from Kady, "I love you, Kady."

"I love you too, daddy," Kady responded happily, causing Nick to smile.

"Come on. Let's get you all nice and dry, huh?" Nick suggested as he lifted Kady out of the bath with a playful grunt, "Oh my God! You're getting so big!"

"I'm a big girl!" Kady cheered.

"Yes. You're a big girl. But that doesn't matter. Because no matter what, you're still gonna be my little girl," Nick told her as he wrapped her in a towel and patted her dry with the love, care and tenderness a father should give his daughter.

"Even when I'm getting mawwied?" Kady assumed.

"Hey. Don't even start thinking about that. Any guy who wants to marry you will have to go through me and my guns. And Uncle Warrick and Uncle Jim and Uncle Greggy and even Uncle Gil and their guns. Basically, between the five of us, those guys have no chance," Nick remarked, even flexing his muscles a little, "Besides, you're not meeting any other guy until you're…hmmm, 30?"

"Daddy!" Kady giggled.

"Whatty?" Nick returned.

"That's not fair!" Kady pouted.

"Life's not fair," Nick retorted before kissing her forehead and holding up her nightgown and helped her into it as Kady said,

"Life's a bitch. Move on."

"OK. Uncle Greggy might not live long enough to protect you from those big bad boys now," Nick decided, earning giggles from Kady.

"Don't hurt Uncle Greggy, daddy," Kady pleaded.

"OK, OK. Uncle Greggy gets to live…for now," Nick promised as he stood up with her in his arms, "Wanna sleep with Daddy tonight?"

"Yes please," Kady response.

OK. Nick asked Kady if she wanted to spend the night with him for both their benefits. Neither of them was ready to let go of each other after what happened leading up to Amy's arrest. Nick was afraid that his daughter would end up having nightmares so he wanted to be there for her. Kady was afriad that she would wake up tomorrow and her daddy wouldn't be there so she wanted to stay with him. The circumstances they're under are completely understandable. Wouldn't any other parent and child be the same?

Nick reached his bedroom and he laid Kady on his pillow before joining her. He secured his arms around the little three-year-old girl who in turn snuggled deep into his chest. Nick smiled. How did he get so lucky that he has such a beautiful daughter? He ran is fingers through her hair as he sang to Kady to sleep with her favourite lullaby. **(AN: By the way, the lullaby Nick is singing to Kady now is the same lullaby he was humming to her earlier in the story.)**

Nick: _The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping,  
><em>_I dreamed I held you in my arms.  
><em>_But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken.  
><em>_So I hung my head and I cried._

_You are my sunshine. My only sunshine.  
><em>_You make me happy when skies are gray.  
><em>_You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.  
><em>_Please don't take my sunshine away._

_I'll always love you and make you happy,  
><em>_If you will only say the same.  
><em>_But if you leave me and love another,  
><em>_You'll regret it all someday._

_You are my sunshine. My only sunshine.  
><em>_You make me happy when skies are gray.  
><em>_You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.  
><em>_Please don't take my sunshine away._

_You told me once, dear, you really loved me.  
><em>_And no one else could come between.  
><em>_But now you've left me and love another.  
><em>_You have shattered all of my dreams._

_You are my sunshine. My only sunshine.  
><em>_You make me happy when skies are gray.  
><em>_You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.  
><em>_Please don't take my sunshine away._

_In all my dreams, dear, you seem to leave me.  
><em>_When I awake, my poor heart pains.  
><em>_So when you come back and make me happy,  
><em>_I'll forgive you, dear. I'll take all the blame._

_You are my sunshine. My only sunshine.  
><em>_You make me happy when skies are gray.  
><em>_You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.  
><em>_Please don't take my sunshine away._

When he was finished, Kady was asleep safe and sound against his bare muscular chest. Nick smiled to himself at the sight of his daughter in the dim bedside light. He always loved having Kady in his arms. If he had his way, he'd sleep with her in his arms all night, every night. But there were things that made it impossible. And he knew that one day, she would grow up and move away to live her own life. But he wanted to hold on to these few moments of innocence.

"Goodnight, Kady," Nick whispered before kissing her head.

Wearing that same smile, he turned out his bedside light and got comfortable before falling asleep. That's how they were the next morning. Asleep in each other's arms like a loving family.

* * *

><p>Day has broken the curse of the night bestowed over Las Vegas. Catherine was sitting on a bench in the local park. Like all the other proud and happy mums, she was watching her daughter, Lindsey, playing on the swings nearby. And just like the other mothers, she was watching her child carefully in the case of an accident.<p>

"Hey, mum!" Lindsey called out.

Catherine waved back to her young daughter. What she didn't notice is that Eddie was standing behind her.

"Morning," Eddie greeted.

Until now, that is.

"Morning," Catherine returned as Eddie took a seat next to her, "Please don't tell me that you're in trouble again already."

"You weren't home. I figured you'd be here. Lindsey loves this park. So, I thought I'd take you out to breakfast. Say thank you," Eddie offered.

"You're welcome," Catherine nodded as she removed her sunglasses and truly looked at Eddie, "I don't think that's such a good idea, though."

"Cath, when are we going to talk about what happened between us?" Eddie asked.

"What's to talk about? You cheated on me. I caught you. I've got a new life," Catherine reminded him.

They both turned to look at Lindsey. They smiled as they watched their daughter have a good time. Eddie took his chance to make a move on his ex-wife.

"Cath," Eddie started before Catherine pulled away, "Come on. Why do you fight the one thing we're good at?"

He tried again. However, just like the first time, no dice. But this time, it's for a good reason.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Lindsey squealed as she ran towards Eddie.

"Hey! There's my little girl!" Eddie cheered in joy as he stood up and scooped her in his arms.

Over Lindsey's shoulder, Eddie looked at Catherine who just sighed. They look so happy…well, Lindsey and Eddie and Lindsey and Catherine. Eddie and Catherine on the other hand…not so much.

**_Hours later…_**

"Where's Grissom?" Warrick asked as he walked in.

"He's late. As usual," Sara responded.

"Hopefully, he won't notice us coming in late," Nick remarked as he walked in.

"Hey! There's my fellow troublemaker!" Greg cheered like Eddie as he pulled Kady into his lap, "Ready to pull some ultimate pranks, my dear kjemisk prinsesse?"

"Yeah!" Kady nodded eagerly.

"Kje-what now?" Nick repeated confusedly.

"It stands for 'chemical princess' in Norwegian," Greg translated.

"I'm not even going to ask," Nick sighed.

"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late. Brass was pestering me about that officer-involved shooting," Grissom sighed.

"Where's our cases? I'm dying for some murder over here," Catherine remarked.

"Amen, amen," everyone else agreed.

"Oh no. No murders for any of you. Especially the little lady here," Brass interrupted as he walked in and pointed to Kady who was giggling as Greg bounced her in his lap, "We're all going out for some brunch. My treat."

"YAY!" everyone cheered.

Sure. They went out for a nice breakfast at the local diner…well, it was nice until Grissom told them their cases there. Bastard. And the days went on like any other for these CSIs and their families. It was as if some of the bad things that happened the day before never actually happened. And everyone was OK with that.

* * *

><p><strong>For the long time it's taken me to update…I blame problems with the internet downloads.<strong>

**You know the drill. Review or suffer the concequences. Blah de blah de blah.**

**Now…**

**HASTA LA VISTA, BABY!**


	8. Blood Drops

**Blood Drops: Two sisters are the sole survivors when their entire family is murdered. Grissom and his team are called in to investigate the brutal murders. Upon first look, they suspected they were victims of a cult murder. But as more evidence is uncovered, a horrific secret is exposed.**

**Next, Anonymous: A man is found dead in a bathtub in a hotel, the victim of another staged suicide. Grissom, Sara and Catherine realise that the serial killer has knowledge in forensic science. Nick and Warrick investigate a tourist's car which tumbled over the ledge of a highway.**

**Then, Unfriendly Skies: On a flight en route to Las Vegas, a first class passenger is killed. Brass, Grissom and his team are called in. But they find their time limit short when the sherif announces they have 12 hours to solve the case before the FBI takes over their investigation. The victim's fellow passengers are reluctant to cooperate, causing the team to suspect their involvement in his death.**

**Later, Sex, Lies and Larvae: A body covered in insects is found in the desert, causing Grissom and Sara to launch an investigation. With help from the entomological evidence, Grissom discovers the time of death. Unfortunately, the husband – who is also the prime suspect – claims to be out of town at the time of the murder and appears to be getting away with it, much to Sara's dismay. Meanwhile, Warrick and Catherine work the case of a house call where a prized painting is stolen. In another case, a woman's car is found at the bus station with the driver missing, leaving Nick to launch a missing persons' case.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**I-15 Murders  
><strong>**Fahrenheit 932  
><strong>**Boom  
><strong>**To Halve and to Hold  
><strong>**Table Stakes  
><strong>**Too Tough to Die  
><strong>**Face Lift  
><strong>**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler**

**Wow. I work fast. As usual, I own nothing. I found the transcript somewhere else. I can't claim credit for that. Hey! It's better than blowing internet downloads with videos again. My mum would kill me! Literally!**

**Oh! REVIEW REPLIES!**

**caitlin: **_**Please update soon. i love this story soo much! xx**_

**No problemo. Thankfully, I'm on a two week break. And I work fast. Thanks for the review.**

**ENJOY! (There goes over an page on the author's notes… ****Oh well.)**

* * *

><p>Viva Las Vegas! And you did not just see me go Elvis Presley. Besides, now's not the right time. Anyways, we're in a nice little quiet neighbourhood in front of a nice two-story house. The sprinklers were running and soaking the green fresh-cut grass and bunny lawn decorations with the clear wet goodness known as water. Suddenly, the sprinklers turned off. Hey! What's going on here? A few moments later, the front door opened and a woman ran out screaming.<p>

"HELP ME! OH GOD! HELP ME! SOMEBODY, PLEASE! PLEASE! OH GOD! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

She ran across the soaked front lawn in her nightwear and headed towards the neighbours house. The lights were turned on due to the young woman's screaming.

"PLEASE! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! PLEASE!"

Just like Detective O'Riley said in the very first episode of CSI: 'Here comes the nerd squad.' Grissom was just pulling up to the crime scene. In his car, the dispatch radio was blaring through the speakers. When the car was parked, he climbed out and met with O'Riley. Immediately, they headed towards the house chatting along their way there.

"Hey," Grissom greeted.

"Heads up. The press is going to be all over this one," O'Riley warned.

"Did you count change since you called me?" Grissom asked.

"Four dead. Mother, father; two teenage boys. The sisters were luckier," O'Riley began explaining as he pointed to the little girl sitting with a police officer wrapped in a blanket, "Teen girl heard a noise. Hid in the closet. Alerted the neighbours after all the shouting was done. Younger sister's over there. They couldn't have killed their father tag team – soaking wet."

Grissom glanced at the house again. This time, when he did, he saw an officer running out. Poor guy was clutching a handkerchief tight to his mouth and nose. When he reached the bushes at the side of the house…yeah. I think you get the picture. Trust me. I don't wanna go there once again.

"What's the matter with your guys?" Grissom wanted to know.

"They've been inside," was O'Riley's answer.

With that said, O'Riely placed his notebook into the pocket of his trench coat and walked away. Grissom remained where he was staring at his brand new crime scene. He just sighed. Talk about a brutal murder. And he hadn't even been inside yet!

*music begins*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Gary Dourdan  
>George Eads<br>Jorja Fox  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

"Put your equipment down, son," Grissom instructed.

Currently, Grissom and Shibley are standing at the front door to the Collins residence aka their brand new crime scene for their shift. Grissom was also guiding a newby CSI through the work. One Shibley placed his kit on the ground, Grissom handed him a pair of the standard-issue latex gloves that every CSI must have in their kit.

"Put these on. I'm going to do a preliminary walk-through. You're going to take my notes," Grissom told him.

That was when they walked inside. Immediately, Grissom began looking around and taking in the new surroundings. He noticed a frame containing a family photograph on the wall nearby. Shibley was looking around next to his mentor. That was when he noticed the light switch nearby. He went to turn the switch on, but Grissom stopped him.

"Don't touch that. I want everything exactly the way it was," Grisom said.

That caused Shibley to withdraw his hand. Grissom just began travelling up the staircase to heaven. KIDDING! He's just heading up to the second floor. Don't worry. Grissom's not gonna die!

"The air smells like copper. Lots of blood. Breathe through your mouth," Grissom advised.

"Yes, sir," Shibley nodded.

The first sight they are greeted with is the sight of the father lying in his own pool of blood on the floor. Grissom approached the body for a closer look.

"Male caucasian approximately 40 years old lying in a pool of blood," Grissom started as he knelt next to the dead man, "No drag marks. Body does not appear to have been moved. Multiple stab wounds to the back and neck. Looks like a single-edged blade. Force to such a degree that the left and right internal jugular veins have been transected. Head faces west. Feet pointing east. Approximately two feet from the north wall. One foot from the south."

Shibley swallowed before asking, "Could…could you take your own notes? I think that I'm gonna be sick."

"I got it. Go get some fresh air," Sara suggested as she appeared behind him and snatched away the clipboard.

Immediately, Shibley left, coughing along the way as he desperately tried to keep the disgust-. Yeah. I'm not gonna go there. Grissom just stared at Sara.

"I heard on the scanner. Quadruple. Figured you might need a hand," Sara told him.

"You don't sleep, do you?" Grissom smirked.

"No," Sara shook her head with no offense before noticing the bullseye symbol on the wall, "Blood swirl on the wall. Are you thinking cult? Manson?"

Grissom just shook his head and replied, "Somebody left a message. I need to see the rest of it."

With that said, they walked into the master bedroom. As they approached the bed, they saw the mother lying on the mattress in a pool of her own blood just like her husband down the hall. Sara hung on to Grissom's every word and wrote every single thing he said down, cementing them into eternity.

"Female caucasian. Appears to be one stab wound to the throat. Transection of left and right carotid arteries with exsanguinating hemorrhage. No defense marks. Cursory opinion: she was killed in her sleep," Grissom observed.

That was when they noticed something particular about their latest dead body. Her blood hasn't clotted yet. The liquid just absently dripped down her fingertips and onto the floor below her. That alone caused Grissom to sigh. He turned to Sara who was looking around the master bedroom hoping to find some new pieces of evidence linking to their quadruple homicide.

"Do you feel this?" Grissom asked.

"Her soul's still in the room," Sara answered quietly.

"But there's something else," Grissom added.

As Sara took pictures of Mrs Collins, Grissom followed the blood spatter on the floor. That blood spatter led him right back to Mr Collins. He opened the door next to him and looked inside. He realises that this was the little girl's room upon closer inspection. He then pushed another door opene. He walked inside and saw one of the sons dead on his own bed. To be thorough in his investigation, Grissom lifted the bedding and looked underneath it. He didn't find anything interesting. He glanced at the nearby window. On the mirror is another bullseye symbol. In the reflection of the mirror, he found the body of the second son. A little boy. Stabbed in the back. He saw two bloodied handprints on the wall. Grissom closed his eyes at the sight.

"You want a barf bag?" O'Riley offered as Grissom walked out of the house.

"I want the paramedics that were in this house back here immediately – police escort. Get them on this front lawn now," Grissom requested.

"You'd think I work for you instead of the other way around," O'Riley remarked.

Grissom said nothing…except to the police officer, "Call dispatch. You tell my entire graveyard shift that I want them here ASAP – all of them – no exceptions. *turns to Sara* Sara, those photos – blow them up times ten. Tell the lab that we need every forensics tool available to us here right away. This is the only crime scene in Las Vegas tonight."

"The fear in this neighbourhood just south of Las Vegas Boulevard is almost palpable. Scott Collins, his wife and two sons were brutally murdered in their beds…"

"…the murder of four innocent…"

"Authorities thus far have offered no comment fueling the fears of the neighours that a killer is on the loose…"

"…a multiple murder. And we will have more on this…"

"It's OK. We'll give you clothes. The lab guys just want to see yours," O'Riley reassured Tina Collins, the same woman who ran out of the house screaming for help upon the murder of her family.

"Sergeant, may I?" Grissom asked, casuing O'Riley to step aside, "Tina, I'm very sorry about what happened to you tonight. But everything we take from your house can help us find out what happened to your family."

"When can I be with my sister? She's so scared," Tina sobbed.

"Soon," Grissom promised, "Detective?"

A woman detective stepped up to Tina. Grissom just turned on his heel and approached the police car where little Brenda Collins was sitting on the backseat with a blanket not saying anything.

"Thanks. Hi. Is your name Brenda?" Grissom asked, only to have Brenda blink, "I'm trying to find out who hurt your family. Do you think you could help me? Did anyone come into your room tonight? Through the door? Through the window maybe? *Brenda doesn't say anything* OK."

He went to walk away. But Brenda stopped him in an innocently scared kind-of way.

"The buffalo," Brenda whispered.

That was enough for Grissom to turn back to Brenda. He immediately knelt in front of her again.

"The buffalo? Who's the buffalo?" Grissom asked gently, only to have Brenda go silent again, "Brenda?"

Immediately, Grissom knew that he wouldn't get anymore out of Brenda tonight. He just stood up and walked away from little Brenda. All Brenda did was sit there and watch him go. Grissom walked up to Catherine, Nick and Warrick who had just arrived at their main crime scene for the night.

"First rule for this crime scene: do not do any interviews. Second rule: don't talk to the Sheriff either," Grissom told them.

"Media have it right? Four dead?" Warrick realised.

"The killer was here not two hours ago. He left parts of himself behind. Catherine, I need you inside mapping and blood samples," Grissom instructed.

"You got it," Catherine nodded.

"Nick, Warrick – the perimeter. I want to know how he got here, how he got in, how he got out and how he left," Grissom requested.

"I'll take the back. Warrick, you get the front?" Nick offered.

"You got it," Warrick agreed.

"Hey, Nick. Where's Kadelin?" Grissom demanded.

"She's at the lab. I dropped her off with Greg on the way here. I heard about the crime scene on the radio on the way here. There was no way I was gonna bring my three-year-old baby out here. I don't want her to be scarred for life," Nick answered.

"Fair enough," Grissom shrugged.

"Hey, O'Riley. Grissom wants to see you," an officer told him.

Cautiously walking around the kitchen Grissom was…OK. I'm never going all Yoda again. That was when O'Riley walked into the kitchen to meet up with Grissom.

"They said you were looking for me," O'Riley said as he walked in.

"Hey! Stop! Evidence!" Grissom snapped.

"We got to hug the wall? This is the only room with no blood in it. There's nothing to disturb," O'Riley reminded him as he…well, literally hugged the kitchen wall.

"You guys will never get it, will you?" Grissom sighed as he noticed the oepn knife drawer, "Knife drawer. One missing."

"It's the only drawer open. The killer knew where they were going," O'Riley remarked.

"I think the suspect's been in this house before. And this is the first place they stopped tonight," Grissom added before looking at the floor, "Good. Linoleum. The best surface."

"Best surface for what?" O'Riley wanted to know.

Moments later, Grissom was on his hands and knees hovering over the floor by just mere inches. In one of his hands was a very special light. With that light, he found some interesting shoe prints. That was enough for him to grab the print lifter.

"You guys got some toys," O'Riley whistled.

"It's not a toy, O'Riley. It's an electrostatic dust print lifter," Grissom clarified.

"OK…," O'Riley trailed off.

"Like a supercharged lint remover. Only it lifts footprints. Possibly our killer's," Grissom went on as he flipped the sheet over to reveal a clear shoe print.

Outside the Collins residence, the paramedics who were on the scene before arrived there to be interrogated by a certain CSI.

"We did everything by the book, sir," the first EMS defended.

"Relax. I just want to know where you walked in the house and who you touched in there," Grissom told them.

"Well, we did use the main entry and up the stairs. But once we saw the husband, we grabbed the walls. I felt the pulses in each room. Once I found they were dead, we booked," he recalled.

"Show me the bottom of your shoe," Grissom requested.

Both men lifted their feet. Grissom took the sheet with the first print and compared it with the first EMS. The shoe and the shoe print are not a match.

"Now yours," Grissom said as he did the same with the second EMS…and found a match, "You fellows were both in the kitchen."

"We didn't see any bodies in there so I didn't think twice about walking on the surface," the first EMS explained.

"Alright. Yours are the only clean prints I found. Thanks. You can go back to work," Grissom waved them off.

Once the paramedics left the scene, O'Riley took the chance to go up to Grissom and tell him something.

"News bim's waiting for you. Thinks you have an 'interesting look,'" O'Riley announced.

"Any truth to the rumor that a cult may have committed these crimes?" the first reporter asked Grissom as he approached them.

"I don't know that," Grissom answered truthfully.

"But you wouldn't rule it out," she guessed.

"I don't rule anything out," Grissom said, satisfying the endless mob of reporters.

"Grissom!" Sheriff Brian Mobley called from behind him.

"Sheriff," Grissom greeted as he approached him.

"The mayor has already called. So what have you got?" Brian wanted to know.

"Nothing," was Grissom's smart reply.

"I'm not asking you to lay out your whole case. Just give me something I can run with. I have got to feed the press and defuse the panic," Brian reminded him.

"As soon as I have something, you'll have something," Grissom promised.

"Here's a thought: why don't you try to be more like Ecklie?" Brian suggested. **(AN: Eugh! *shudders* I can't even believe you said that, Sheriff!)**

"I could speak volumes about Conrad Ecklie. But I have a crime scene to pricess so…you'll have to excuse me," Grissom said before walking away.

"Sheriff! Can you tell me what went on inside?" the same reporter that interviewed Grissom asked.

"Let me assure everyone that the situation is well under control. We don't have any suspects at this time. But our forensic crew…"

While Brian was interviewed by the press, Grissom walked over to Sara. He needed her to do something that involved young Brenda who was temporarily forgotten in the front seat of the police vehicle.

"You want me inside?" Sara assumed.

"I need you to transport the little girl to the police department. Brass is waiting for you," Grissom instructed.

"You're kidding me, right? I'm a taxi service on the biggest case of the year," Sara scoffed in disbelief.

"Sara, I need one of us with that little girl," Grissom said to her before walking away, leaving a gaping Sara behind.

* * *

><p>Warrick and Nick seemed to be making excellent process on the perimeter of the Collins residence. Warrick managed to find some tire prints in the dirt, causing him to check the dirt both inside the prints and the dirt surrounding the prints. Nick was standing at the entryway taking some photographs of a bunny yard decoration he found outside the door. Since this quadruple homicide is the biggest case this year for the Las Vegas Police Department, everything that may or may not be pertinent to catching the killer andor filling in the blanks of the sudden murder must be taken. You may never know when something from the crime scene might come to good use to this case in the future.

Inside the house, Catherine was inside the master bedroom where the body of Mrs Collins was found on the bed. Since the coroner had already taken the bodies away for further examination, she was free to collect the samples of blood from the bed. Once she was done in the master bedroom, Catherine continued to move around the house to the rooms that contained the crimson liquid that made its marks to indicate the recent murders. And that included the hallway where the body of Scott Collins was found. She also took samples from the bloody hand prints in the boys' bedroom. She also watched as the coroner took away the body of one of the sons.

Outside, Warrick and Nick were still doing their jobs by searching around the perimeter. Warrick was still focusing on those tire prints he found. Now, he was taking pictures of them. Nick held a bidi he collected from the bushes in his hand. After giving it the 'once-over,' he places the bidi in a bindle. He looked down at the ground below him and saw a used match. He also picked that up, wondering what the used match meant to this case.

* * *

><p>The next day, the bodies were still being removed from the crime scene. Today, the body that was being removed was the body of the youngest son. As they walked down the sairs, Grissom walked up to the medical examiner apprentice, David Phillips.<p>

"I want to see all of their personal property – clothes, jewelry; whatever they have on," Grissom requested.

"If there's something under all this blood, you'll be the first to know," David promised.

David then turned to leave with the bodies of the family (with the exception of Tina and Brenda). Nick was standing in the doorway as this happened. He lifted to sheet to glance at the body of the little boy. After looking underneath the sheet, he recovered him with sadness. Sighing, he looked at his boss.

"This kid should be out playing Pop Warner," Nick remarked, his voice filled with sadness.

As Nick headed back outside, he punched the door in frustration. Grissom didn't say anything. He didn't do anything either. He just stood there and watched Nick – someone who grow into an amazing man under his careful supervision, someone he saw as a son and the father of his goddaughter – in worry. Over the years he had worked with Nick, he knew that he allows himself to form emotional attatchments with the victim's family – relate to them, not…you know – and he knew that cases involving children affected him the worse. It affected him even worse if the victim was a child around Kady's age. He understood that Nick was overprotective of his young daughter. If Kady was his child, he'd be the same way. But there was an underlying issue. Something no one knew about. And whatever it was, it was killing Nick Stokes inside.

* * *

><p>"I've got the blood samples on the way to the lab," Catherine reported to Grissom inside the master bedroom.<p>

"Good. You buy this cult thing?" Grissom couldn't help but ask.

"You mean the blood swirls next to the father's body and in the boys' room?" Catherine guessed and shook her head, "I studied pictures of the Manson Murders. This isn't butter. It's imitation. What's your take?"

"Whoever did it killed the mother first. In her sleep. Quick," Grissom started.

"Explains why the blood is confined to the bed and the floor under it," Catherine remarked.

"Husband worke up. Ran to protect his kids," Grissom went on as they began walking, "The killer nicked him here. And then finished him off down the hall."

"Gave his life for the little girl. There should be more blood," Catherine stated.

"Yeah. It's a hole. We need to fill it. If we start from the inside and fan out whoever's left at the scene…," Grissom trailed off, hoping that Catherine would catch on.

"The first suspect," Catherine realised.

"The teen daughter?" Grissom offered.

"Well, she'd need help. Maybe a boyfriend?" Catherine guessed.

"I wonder if they call him 'buffalo,'" Grissom pondered aloud.

* * *

><p>Inside the interview room at the Las Vegas Police Department, Brenda had a piece of paper and crayons of multiple colours. She was vigorously colouring her drawing with a black crayon. Not to far away, Sara, Brass and Kady observed her. Brass was holding Kady in his arms, engulfing his goddaughter lovingly.<p>

"Look, Brass, I don't see why I've got to take her. I'm a scientist. Catherine's the mum. Ask her," Sara pleaded.

"O'Riley was primary on this till it passed over to me. Big deal," Brass retorted.

"What about Family Services? Can't they take her?" Sara asked.

"They sent their caseworker over to the hospital. So meet her there with the kid," Brass instructed.

"I am not good with kids," Sara moaned.

"Look. I'm not asking you to adopt her. Just take her over to Sunrise for a Psych Evaluation, will ya?" Brass requested, "And what do you mean you're not good with kids? Have you seen yourself with this little one over here?"

"She's my goddaughter, Brass. It's a totally different matter," Sara retorted before taking Kady into her arms and walking into the interview room.

"Hi, Brenda," Kady greeted happily, only to have Brenda ignore her.

"Don't take it personal, K.T. She's upset," Sara warned Kady before turning to Brenda, "That's very pretty."

Brenda grabbed a pink crayon and started scratching out the picture of it, ruining the beautiful drawing.

"Or not," Sara sighed.

"Hey. You wanna go for another ride?" Kady offered her.

Her answer: Brenda shoving everything onto the floor near them and putting her hands flat against her ears.

"I'll take that as a yes," Sara laughed.

* * *

><p>"Tina, do you know what time you heard those noises?" Brass asked Tina in the interview room later that day.<p>

"No. But they sounded like footsteps coming from the kitchen," Tina recalled.

"And that's when you hid in the closet?" Brass assumed.

"Yes," Tina nodded.

"Does your family normally keep the doors locked at night?" Brass questioned.

"I don't know. My dad checks the house at night. It's always been a safe neighbourhood," Tina answered.

"Tina, do you…go out with anyone special?" Grissom asked her slowly.

"I hook up with different guys. No one special," Tina shrugged.

"Are any of them…called 'Buffalo?'" Grissom went on.

Tina couldn't bear to look at either of them. Brass immediately caught on to that simple action.

"'Buffalo? No," Tina shook her head.

"How about this, Tina? You live in a house with six people, right? You must be used to hearing footsteps in the kitchen late at night. Why so scared last night?" Brass wanted to know.

"I know my brothers' footsteps. And my dad's. These were different," Tina answered.

* * *

><p>Currently, Nick, Grissom and Warrick are back at the Collins' house. Nick and Warrick kneeling on the ground to take a better look at the tire print Warrick found in the dirt last night.<p>

"How do you know it's fresh?" Nick asked his best friend.

"I checked the sprinkler system. It goes off every night at 0200," Warrick responded.

"And paramedics pronounced at 0240," Nick added as Warrick began mixing the plaster cast.

"So somebody came out of the house and got on what looks to be a step down from a motorcycle and drove it across the lawn," Warrick summised.

"And I bet he dropped the bidi I found in the back on the way out," Nick piped in.

"Bidi?" Grissom repeated.

"Yeah. Those hand-rolled cigarettes? Probably a teenager. They're always taking shortcuts?" Nick remarked.

"How's that hand?" Warrick suddenly asked.

"Hmm?" Nick hummed in confusion.

"I saw you beating up the door a little while ago," Warrick clarified, "You alright?"

"Yeah. It's cool," Nick responded, "I'll see you back at the lab. I have some evidence to check up on and I need to check in with Sara to see how Kady is."

With those words said, Nick stood up and walked away. Warrick sighed worriedly concerning his best friend and began pouring the plaster mixture into the tire print.

* * *

><p>Inside the hospital, Brenda walked out of one of the rooms and into the hallway holding onto Doctor Leever's hand. In her other arm was a little pink stuffed toy. Sara and Kady immediately saw her coming.<p>

"Hey, Brenda," Sara greeted.

Brenda didn't say anything, even after Sara, Kady and Connie Bellvue from Family Services stood up. The only thing Brenda did was hold the stuffed animal to Kady, telling her to take it. A kind gesture.

"Thank you," Kady thanked as she took the stuffed animal into her hands.

"Which one of you is with Family Services?" Dr Leever asked.

"I am. Connie Bellvue," Connie introduced herself.

"Brenda's fine. But I'd like for her to have a consult. I've paged the psychiatric resident. Should be here within the house," Dr Leever told them.

The entire time, Leever ignored Sara. Having other patients to tend to, he simply walked away. Immediately, Connie approached Brenda and rested her hand on her tiny frame in a possessive manner.

"Thanks. I'll take it from here," Connie said to Sara in the hopes of dismissing her.

"What…what's the head exam for?" Sara immediately demanded.

"I said…we'll take it from here," Connie repeated in frustration.

"Look. If there's any forensic evidence found during this exam, I need to be there," Sara told her.

"It's already going to be tense," Connie retorted, "Go back to your crime lab. I'll keep you posted."

Connie didn't notice Brenda slip away towards Sara and Kady. She wrapped one arm around Kady's shoulder who in turn wrapped her own arm around her torso. Already, the two had bonded. They were practically sisters in the short amount of time they have known each other. With her free hand, Brenda tugged on Sara's jacket which was tied up around her waist. Obviously, the aim was for Brenda to receive Sara's undivided attention. Obviously, it worked. Immediately, Sara placed a comforting arm around her shoulders and nodded at Brenda.

"It's OK, Brenda. We're not leaving you," Sara promised.

* * *

><p>On the vanity mirrow, we see lots of photos. But one photo in focus is of young little Brenda. Inside the master bedroom at the Collins residence, Catherine stood by the bed with a clipboard in her hand. She then moved out to the hallway where she began mapping the blood drops. She placed evidence marker #1 on the ground next to the first blood drop and took a photo of it. She then did the same with the other blood drops: place evidence markers #2, #3, #4 and #5 next to them and take photos of them.<p>

Later that day, Catherine was still in the hallway. This time, she was crouching inbetween markers #2 and #3. Near the bullseye down the hallway were evidence markers #4 and #5. After looking at them for a mere moment, she picked up her clipboard and began working on the evidence photos she had taken. When she got to the photo of marker #5, she wrote, "SPATTER FOUND OPPOSITE…" Catherine glanced down the hallway at marker #5 and continued writing.

As the day turned into evening and evening turned into night, Catherine was still working on the mapping of the blood spatter in the house. She mapped it all out on a plastic architectural layout of the house. When night rolled by, the evidence marks had been removed and Catherine just sat there on the bedroom floor looking at the blood spatter down the hallway. She knew that there was something missing. She FELT that there was something missing. Something was definitely wrong with this picture. But she couldn't work out what it was. The missing link was there. Everyone knew it was there. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

_CHIME! CHIME!_

That sound of the clock chiming was enough to snap Catherine out of her thoughts. She glanced at her watch. That was when she realised how late it was. And what she had forgotten to do.

"Linds!" Catherine grimaced.

She got so caught up in the case that she forgot to pick up her own daughter from dance practice. Immediately, she scrambled to her feet, gathered up her belongings and the new evidence and ran out of the house carefully like there was no tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Back in the lab, Grissom had the clothes that Tina was wearing during her family's murder laid out on the table in front of him. He thought that something was odd. She came running out of the house screaming for help after finding her family's dead bodies. Shouldn't she have been covered in her blood? There weren't any signs on her clothing. And nothing showed up with the luminol. So Grissom thought that he should try looking for blood with the ALS. So he grabbed the Alternate Light Source and activated it after turning off the top lights. He was broken out of his thoughts by a thud…followed by a curse. He immediately knew who it was. It was unmistakeable.<p>

"DAMN!"

"That you, Warrick?" Grissom asked.

"You need to tell somebody when you're cutting the lights," Warrick grumbled as he approached his lights.

"What? Are you working for OSHA now?" Grissom questioned rhetorically.

"Grissom, you remember those tire treads I found on the front lawn?" Warrick began.

"Mm-hmm," Grissom hummed in recollectance…either that or 'Your point is?'

"Well, I ran them through the FBI register and they belong to a '93 Honda scooter," Warrick told him.

"That's good," Grissom commented.

"I DMV'd it. A kid four blocks away from the scene owns the same make," Warrick announced.

"That's very good," Grissom complimented.

"I might have just blown open the case and all you give me is a "that's very good?"" Warrick asked in disbelief.

Grissom just looked up at Warrick and changed the subject, "If your whole family was murdered, wouldn't you run to them to check to see if they were still alive?"

"Yeah," Warrick nodded.

"This is a Lady Macbeth," Grissom pronounced after examining Tina's clothing even more.

"Lady Macbeth?" Warrick repeated in confusion.

"'Out, out, damn spot.' There's not a trace of blood on the teen daughter's clothing. Not a spot," Grissom pointed out.

* * *

><p>"Linds? Lindsey! Lindsey. Lindsey!" Catherine called out as she walked into the Willows residence.<p>

When she walked into the family room, she found Lindsey and Eddie on the floor listening to vinyl record albums enjoying their father-daughter time. Catherine smiled at the sight. This sort of reminded her of Nick and Kady.

During breaks, they would listen to music in his office, read together, colour pictures, talk about anything and everything (except cases) or just sleep. Catherine still remembered how when Kady was a week old, Nick tried to get her to have a nap and she couldn't get comfortable. And Nick needed a nap too so he lay on the couch with Kady on his chest and they fell asleep. Nick had kept a hand on her back in a loving-fatherly fashion. Thankfully, Grissom was on one of his 'I-must-have-my-camera-on-me-to-take-photos-of-Kady-at-all-times' frenzies at that point of time and took both a photo AND video of the cute moment between the father and daughter duo. Now everyone has that photo on their desks in their offices in the lab because it was so cute.

Anyways, if you'll excuse me, we're losing track of what's happening here so let's get back to the subject matter at hand: Eddie, Catherine and Lindsey.

"Hi, honey!" Catherine greeted happily.

"Mummy! Hi!" Lindsey squealed excitedly as she ran to her mummy.

"Oh, am I glad to see you!" Catherine remarked as she held Lindsey in her arms up in the air.

"Daddy came to ballet tonight," Lindsey told her excitedly.

"I know. I was just there. Your teacher told me daddy came to pick you up. Oh, you feel so good," Catherine commented in appreciation before placing Lindsey on her feet on the floor and turning to face her ex-husband, "Ed…I'm working this quadruple. Time got away from me. I apologize."

"I figued that's probably what it was," Eddie said.

"Right," Catherine sighed.

"When they couldn't reach you, they called me," Eddie explained.

"Yeah. Thank you. I really, really," Catherine began thanking him.

"Cath, Cath, Cath…she's my kid too, okay? Alright?" Eddie cut her short.

"Yeah," Catherine agreed as Eddie started massaging the tense muscles in her shoulders, causing her to sigh and groan in pleasure, "Oh God."

"So the case is bad? I saw it on the news," Eddie commented as he continued kneeding his fingers and knuckles into her shoulders.

"Yeah," Catherine once again agreed with her ex-husband.

"Hey," Eddie began gently as he turned out around.

"What?" Catherine demanded kindly.

"Are you hungry? I made pancakes," Eddie announced.

"You made pancakes?" Catherine repeated.

"Mm-hmm," Eddie hummed.

"For dinner?" Catherine chuckled.

"Yeah," Eddie laughed…until Catherine's pager went off.

"That would be Grissom," Catherine remarked.

"How is your boyfriend?" Eddie asked with bitterness in his voice.

"Ed," Catherine sighed, clearly not amused.

"Yeah," Grissom answered the incoming phone call, "I need you back here right away. The Collins Case is busting out."

"OK. I'll be right there. Just let me put on some clean clothes," Catherine pleaded her boss.

"Please do," Grissom requested before hanging up.

"Eddie," Catherine sighed as she turned to face Eddie who was leaning against the doorway.

"She's going to ask where you are," Eddie reminded her.

"She always does," Catherine remarked before walking away.

* * *

><p>"Mr Ecklie," Grissom greeted as he bumped into Conrad Ecklie in the hallway at CSI.<p>

"I just got off the phone with the Sheriff. He wants results, Gil," Ecklie told him.

"He should go to a sports book. I hear Stardust is good," Grissom joked.

"No. What he should do is go to his first team – MY team," Ecklie retorted.

"Teams, Conrad? I didn't know this was a competition," Grissom tormented.

"Well, it is, and my crew usually wins," Ecklie smirked.

"Really? Didn't Graveyard beat Day Shift in softball last summer?" Grissom recalled with a smirk matching Ecklie's.

"You know, you can joke all you want. It's your ass on the line," Ecklie said before Grissom walked away.

"I think it was 14-3," Grissom tormented after he turned around.

"Like I said, it's all about results. And, if you don't get them, I will," Ecklie threatened.

* * *

><p><strong>I don't like Ecklie very much in the first couple of seasons. Just thought I'd put that in there.<strong>

* * *

><p>Currently, Warrick and Brass are in the interview room at the Las Vegas Police Department. Their latest victim is Oliver, someone who has an untold connection to Tina and the murders. What connection, you may ask. You'll find out later. Patience is a virtue, my eager padawans.<p>

"The tire treads from the scooter place you at the scene of the murders," Warrick told him.

"Look. I was in Hoover visiting my father. I don't know anything about Tina's parents getting killed," Oliver defended.

"Tina's parents?" Warrick repeated, "So you know Tina Collins?"

"Yeah. I know her. A lot of guys know her. She's a freak," Oliver commented.

"You mean sexually?" Warrick guessed.

"Yeah," Oliver agreed.

"Where's your scooter now?" Warrick asked.

"I told him I don't know," Oliver answered.

"So it just disappeared?" Brass assumed.

"Look. It costs money, right? And my dad's been slacking on support so I bought it with three other guys. We share it," Oliver explained.

"Here's a pen. Start writing," Brass requested as he passed Oliver pen and paper.

Doing as he was told, Oliver began writing down the names of the three other guys he shares the '99 Honda scooter with and their contact information because he knew they'd be wanting that too.

* * *

><p>"Hey. Heard you got a suspect," Sara remarked as she walked into the room with Kady in her arms.<p>

Immediately, Nick snatched Kady from Sara and clutched her to his chest. He hadn't been able to see Kady since they got assigned this case. And whenever he was free, Sara had his daughter. So he now had the opportunity to hold the daughter he so desperately missed.

"We got about four just on the tire prints alone. Homicide's grabbing them up," Warrick told Sara.

"Let's talk about what else we have. Tina Collins' pajama top from the murder scene without a drop of blood on it," Grissom changed the subject matter altogether once again.

"Hello. How does she explain that?" Sara immediately asked as she grabbed a plate of food and sat down.

"We're about to go ask her. Nick, what did you find out about that stuff that you collected at the back of the house?" Catherine questioned.

"The bidi? DNA's still processing. But Tina said nobody in the family smoked," Nick explained as he kissed Kady's cheek and bounced her a little bit. She was still incredibly light. Sometimes, that worried him though.

"So a non-family member was out there," Sara summised.

"Bidi? Bidi? I thought you found a cigarette and a match behind the house," Grissom recalled.

"Well, it's just like a cigarette," Nick told him.

"Kids smoke them. They think there's less carbon monoxide," Sara added helpfully.

"What did you find out about the psych exam on the little girl?" Grissom asked Sara.

"The shrunk says the kid is in a catatonic state from a trauma. I couldn't told you that. But she did respond to the name 'Buffalo,'" Sara began explaining.

"Respond how?" Grissom wanted to know.

"She freaked out," Kady answered.

"But she seems to get along with Kady really well. Once Kady's in the room, she runs straight to her and I have a hard time seperating the two of them. Kady and I are the only ones she will actually try to communicate with," Sara remarked.

"And…what are you doing about it now?" Grissom asked.

"Going back to the girl. …I left her in the car," Sara announced, causing the jaws of Catherine and Grissom to drop, "The windows are cracked. ...*stands up* Give me a little credit. She's at the hospital."

Warrick couldn't help but snicker at what Sara did to Grissom and Catherine. Catherine and Grissom just started at each other before they ate something.

"Come on, Kady. We're going to see Brenda," Sara told her.

Nick barely managed to kiss his daughter's head before Sara scooped her in her arms and took her away. Nick's heart broke slightly as he watched Kady wave goodbye to her daddy over Sara's shoulder. He sighed and slumped against his seat.

"I'm never gonna be able to spend some time with my baby until this case is over, am I?" Nick sighed.

"Nope," Grissom, Catherine and Warrick shook their heads.

"Damn it," Nick moaned.

* * *

><p>"I don't know why I didn't get blood on my pajamas. I just didn't," Tina told Grissom and Catherine as they re-questioned her in Grissom's office the following day.<p>

"But your statement says that you bent down and hugged your mother who was bleeding profusely. Then you ran out, tripping over your father's body in the upstairs hallway," Catherine read.

"But there was no blood on you," Grissom piped in.

"I saw my family dead. I was scared. I ran to the neighbours. That is the truth," Tina swore.

"The evidence is telling a different story," Grissom retorted.

* * *

><p>Nick and Brass questioned each guy who owns the scooter with Oliver. But they didn't have much luck. Until the third guy, that is…<p>

"I did the nasty with her, yeah. But I didn't kill her family. Besides, my dad grounded me last week," the first guy told them.

"I share the scooter with Oliver. But I was camping last night. Ask my mum. She made me go. Church group," the second guy grumbled.

"We had sex. So what? I want a lawyer," Jesse requested.

"You want a lawyer? OK. We'll get you a lawyer. Investigatior Stokes will stay with you just in case you remember where you left that scooter," Brass told him before leaving the room.

When it was just the two of them alone, Jesse just sat there in front of Nick nervous like hell. Then he reached into his shirt pocket for a bidi. That's something Nick didn't fail to notice.

"There's no smoking in here," Nick informed him.

"Sharon Stone – 'Basic Instinct', dude," Jesse retorted.

"And I'm not your dude. This ain't a movie and Sharon Stone's fine. Let's go," Nick shot back.

Knowing that he is defeated, Jesse tossed the packet of bidis to Nick. He immediately took it and looked at the box.

"Matches?" Nick requested.

Immediately, the matches were tossed over to him. He looked inside and immediately noticed that two matches were missing. Was he that non-family member hanging around outside the Collins residence around the time the murders took place.

* * *

><p>Brass immediately headed to Grissom's office where he knew that Grissom and Catherine still had Tina for questioning. Perfect opportunity to make her sweat good.<p>

"The kid's name is Jesse Overton. He time-shares the scooter. He admits to having sex with your girl and he's asking for a lawyer," Brass announced, causing Tina to react, something that Grissom and Catherine didn't fail to notice, "I want to get a warrant and search his house. I'll keep you posted."

Brass then left the room. Tina looked at Grissom with a pleading look on her face.

"I want to see my sister," Tina requested.

"It's not going to happen, Tina," was Grissom's response.

"You don't understand. I need to speak with her," Tina pleaded.

"She won't speak," Grissom announced.

"The doctor says it's from trauma. What happened, Tina? Did you catch your boyfriend killing your family?" Catherine asked, causing Tina to go quiet.

* * *

><p>"Ha-ha-ha! Houston, we have liftoff!" Nick cheered as he compared the match found at the crime scene to the match pack.<p>

"Let me take a look," Warrick requested.

Nick didn't say anything. He simply moved to the side and allowed Warrick to look down the microscope.

"You see how each half of the match lines up?" Nick asked.

"I see," Warrick nodded.

"Ah…who broke the case?" Nick wanted to know.

"Well, if you believe what you hear in the halls – Ecklie," Warrick answered.

"Ecklie?" Nick repeated in disbelief.

"Day shift," they laughed.

* * *

><p>"Sophisticated criminal, huh?" Brass remarked.<p>

Currently, Grissom and Brass are in the garage at Jesse Overton's residence. And Brass has just found the scooter…in parts.

"This is the getaway vehicle. Tossing it in his own trash? What else is new?" Brass scoffed before looking for more evidence as Grissom picked up the tire, "Whoa. Is this a pair of jeans under all that blood?"

"'Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him?'" Grissom recited with a sigh.

"What was that?" Brass immediately asked.

"That's Shakespeare," Grissom answered.

Brass said nothing. He just handed the bloody jeans to Grissom. This was going to be an interesting interrogation later…

* * *

><p>Inside the observation room looking into the interview room, Grissom and Brass watched as the lie detector operator hooking Jesse up to the machine. Now they were going to find out the truth. This case had gone on for a day too long. They needed answers. They needed to finish this. Now.<p>

"The lawyer's pleading him guilty," Grissom informed.

"Had to…once I put the murder weapon in his mug," Brass retorted.

* * *

><p>"Remember – yes or no," the operator reminded Jesse.<p>

"Got it," Jesse nodded before the questions began.

"Did Tina Collins approach you at school and ask you to kill her family?" he asked him.

"Yes," Jesse answered.

"Would you lie about that to escape the death penalty?" the operator questioned.

"No," Jesse denied.

"Did you kill her family?" he quizzed.

"Yes," Jesse confessed.

"Did Tina let you in the front door the night of the killings?" he pressed.

"Two o'clock. I waited till it was straight up," Jesse recalled.

"Yes or no," he reminded.

"Sorry," Jesse apologised, "Yes."

"Did she already have a knife for you?" the operator went on.

"No. She let me choose," Jesse declined.

"Did you use that knife to kill Barbara Collins?" he asked.

"Yes," Jesse answered after a deep breath.

"And Mr Collins?" he pressed.

"Yes," Jesse replied harder.

"And both sons?" he went on.

"Yes," Jesse nodded.

"Was Tina mad at her parents for not letting you see each other?" he questioned.

"Yes," Jesse answered.

"Did Tina Collins tell you she wanted them dead so you could see each other?" he wanted to know.

That last question caused Jesse to pause and look away. But he gave an answer anyway: "Yes."

Was it the right answer? No way, Jose. The lines on the lie detector are going all over the place. Liar, liar, pants on fire.

* * *

><p>"Well, the sick bastard is on the up and up," Brass announced as he walked in with the print out from the lie detector, "Except your last question. Your why."<p>

"That they killed the family so they could be together?" Catherine said.

"Operator says his respiratory reactions were inconsistant. He's lying," Brass explained.

"We got them both. I don't pretty much care why they did it," Nick confessed.

"I'm with you there," Warrick agreed.

"I care. I don't like holes. What are they hiding?" Grissom pondered out loud.

"Nick, what would you do if Kady had a boyfriend you wouldn't let her see and she ended up killing her entire family so she could be with him?" Catherine asked Nick suddenly.

"Don't even joke about that, Catherine," Nick threatened very dangerously.

"Cath, he's on edge. He hasn't been able to spend any quality time with Kady since this case came up. And whenever he's free to, Sara always kidnaps her. He's deprived of his daughter," Warrick told Catherine.

"Nick, she's your daughter. You see her all the time," Grissom reminded Nick.

"Yeah. I know. But you'd think that on my breaks, I'd be able to spend time with my own baby. Not have her stolen by her godmother," Nick retorted.

"You wanted to keep her away from the case," Catherine recalled.

"I want to protect her like any other father would with his baby girl," Nick corrected, "Man. I'm screwed when Kady starts school next year."

* * *

><p>"Did you collect the property from the Collins family?" Grissom asked as he walked into the autposy room.<p>

"Right after the autopsies. Sealed them myself. Why?" Doc Robbins wanted to know.

"I told one of your assistants to make sure that I got them," Grissom told him.

"Well, I gave them to Ecklie. He said he'd deliver them to you," Doc Robbins announced, causing Grissom to turn on his heel and leave, "He was down here on another case!"

* * *

><p>"ECKLIE!" Grissom boomed as he stormed into the break room mad as hell, "I want everything right now."<p>

"I've been going over it," Ecklie said flippantly.

"The Collins case is my shift. You are completely off base," Grissom growled.

"What, you're afraid I'll find something that might show you up?" Ecklie tormented.

"Oh, I'm sure if you could, you would have by now," Grissom retorted, "Where is it?"

Ecklie said nothing. Just made some motions with his hand. Grissom stormed towards the door…until Ecklie stops him.

"I don't care that you got some pimply-faced kid to confess. You kept the Sheriff out of the loop. That's a career-killer, Gil," Ecklie remarked.

"That's what so sad, Conrad. You think of this as a career," Grissom shot back before leaving.

* * *

><p>Grissom went through every piece of the evidence taken from the bodies piece by piece. He also compared the evidence to the crime scene photos. In the next envelope which he emptied onto the table was a bloody amulet on a chain. Once he cleaned it up, he noticed something perculiar.<p>

"The buffalo," he whispered excitedly.

"Sara?"

"_Yeah?_"

"Sara. When they examined the little Collins girl, did they check for sexual abuse?" Grissom asked.

"_There were no overt signs. Why?_"

* * *

><p>"<em>Have some ultraviolet photographs taken.<em>"

That was the last thing Grissom said to Sara before he hung up. Sara sighed before lifting Brenda onto the table followed by Kady. She then got out a very cool camera. Something that she knew that Kady loved.

"This…is a very special camera. It can see deep into your skin. It can see things nobody can see. How about I take a picture of Kady first, OK?" Sara suggested.

Brenda nodded her head at the idea. Kady has been her rock through everything despite her being the youngest. And if she saw it getting done to Kady first, then she'd be alright with it. Sara lifted the camera to the smiling Kady and took a photo of her. Kady was unharmed by the camera, comforting Brenda a little.

"See? It's OK," Kady reassured Brenda.

Brenda nodded her head once again. Sara wrapped her arms around Brenda and undid the tie at the top of her hospital gown. Carefully, she slid down the gown to just below her shoulders. Brenda didn't say a word or try to stop her. She trusted Sara. She knew she would never hurt her. Sara grabbed a ruler and attatched it to the top of her gown. Sara picked up the camera once again.

"All ready?" Sara asked, earning a nod from Brenda, "OK."

Sara lifted the camera up and began taking the photos of Brenda that Grissom wanted.

* * *

><p>"Notes on mapping: Collins family murder. Case #00-398. Intruder killed mother. Father went to protect the little girl. Got nicked by the knife. Killer subdoed him as dad was entering the little girl's room to…save her."<p>

That was when she realised that something didn't click. Her theory didn't match the photos. Immediately, she looked at the blood drops in photo #36. Then she looked at photos number #30 and #18. She doesn't like what she was seeing. She looked at #18 again. This time, with a magnifying glass. In her mind, she could see what happened that night.

Scott Collins was stepping out of Brenda's bedroom. Jesse Overton attacked him from behind. Scott fell to the floor in front of Brenda's bedroom and was stabbed to death repeatedly by Jesse.

"Grissom," Catherine whispered before reaching for her cell phone…only to have a knock interrupt her train of thought.

"Catherine Willows?" a serious-looking man with a file package in his hand asked as he walked inside.

"Who's asking?" Catherine demanded.

"Ted Goggle. I'm with Family Services. Were you working the Collins case?" Ted questioned.

Catherine sighed before telling him, "You know, your department can't seem to get things straight. If you're looking for the little girl, she's already got a caseworker."

"Actually, I'm inquiring about your little girl," Ted announced.

"My Lindsey? Why? What are you talking about?" Catherine immediately wanted to know.

"Your husband, Eddie, filed a report. Says you neglected to pick her up after dance class last night. That you routinely neglet her for your job," Ted announced.

"Is this Eddie's idea of a joke? What, are you in one of his bands?" Catherine sighed.

"I already made a field visit to your house. Here's the form,' Ted said as he handed her a form, "Lindsey seems OK but there is going to be an investigation as to whether there was parental neglect. You're on notice."

Outside the x-ray room at the hospital is where Grissom stood. He was waiting for something. But waiting for what? Then his cell phone began ringing. He immediately answered it, hoping it was a certain Conrad Ecklie or the sheriff.

"Grissom," he answered.

"It's me. Something's off on the map," Catherine told her boss.

"_Off? How?_"

"Uh…I'm looking at dad's blood in the hall. I found an interesting drop. The droplet tells me that he wasn't running to the little girl's room," Catherine announced.

"He was coming out of it?" Grissom realised in disbelief.

"Yeah. I filled one of your holes, Grissom. The father was killed first – then the mother. And the blood that we found in the hallway was from the knife," Catherine explained before hanging up.

Still not believing this was happening, Catherine began reading the form that guy from Family Services left. How could Eddie do this to her? What was going to happen?

* * *

><p>Ah, here's a room that we haven't been in yet. The black room at CSI. Inside, Sara was getting all the photos she had taken at the hospital developed. Grissom stood with her watching her delicate work. When she was done with the last photo, she flipped it over and hung it up to dry. Together, Sara and Grissom looked at the photos taken at the hospital. What they saw shocked them to the core.<p>

"Damn it. Look at all those bruises!" Sara gasped.

"Somebody was all over this kid," Grissom remarked.

* * *

><p>With the new evidence, Grissom and Brass decided to re-interview Tina Collins. They placed the ultraviolet photos of Brenda on the tables in front of Tina. Tina couldn't believe what she was seeing. She even touched the photos.<p>

"We have forensic evidence that your father sexually abused your sister. We also know…that he was in her room the night of the murders," Grissom told her.

"How can you tell?" Tina wanted to know.

"Blood drops. They fall a certain way depending on the motion of the victim," Grissom explained before Tina took a deep breath, "Something horrible happened in that house, didn't it, Tina? Long before the night of the murders."

"That was the last night he was going to touch her," Tina gritted.

"But why your mother? And why your brothers?" Grissom asked.

"Because they should have protected me!" Tina cried.

"You?" Grissom repeated.

"My father…," Tina started, "I was young. I learned to deal. But when he went for my daughter…!"

It was then that Grissom started realizing what was going on, "Brenda is…? And who is…?"

"The father?" Tina finished bitterly, "I was 13…and nobody noticed that my clothes were getting bigger. Nice, huh? Brenda may hate me for what I did…but I protected her. I did that much."

* * *

><p>Sara watched as Brenda and Kady played with each other in the hospital hallway. Slowly, Brenda opened up more to them. And that made both Sara and Kady happy and proud. Sara smiled as she watched the two young girls in front of her. Over the short time they have known each other, Sara saw Kady like family. The two of them act like sisters, but Sara loves Kady as if she was her own daughter. They connected instantly when they met. That made Nick happy. That made everyone happy, actually.<p>

But soon, Brenda would be adopted by another family. A family that wouldn't harm her like her father did. But she knew that Brenda and Kady would remain friends. They knew they would see Brenda again.

That's why she was OK with everything.

* * *

><p>"Night, guys!" Catherine said as she walked out of the locker room.<p>

"See ya, Cath!" Nick called out after her.

"Good work!" Grissom added as he grabbed a book and walked past Nick sitting on the bench with an ice pack on his hand, "It'll be back to normal in 24 hours."

"Normal would be nice. I have a kid to take care of," Nick remarked.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Kady squealed as she ran into the locker room.

"Hey, butterfly!" Nick greeted happily as he lifted Kady on his lap and hugged her tight.

Grissom smiled as he watched the moment unfold. The last time Nick spent some proper time with Kady was when they got assigned this case. And Nick wasn't coping with the little time he had with his baby. So seeing how Kady kissed his sore knuckles and Nick kept on showering her with fatherly kisses melted his heart. That's Gilbert Grissom for you. The Tin Man with a heart, as Jenna said before.

To give them their alone time, Grissom walked away and headed to his office. When Warrick glanced into Grissom's office, he saw his boss eating an apple and doing a crossword. Warrick sighed and shook his head. Same old Grissom.

Everyone left the lab at their own time. What everyone did outside the lab was also different. Grissom continued his crossword in bed. Sara listened to her personal police scanner. Warrick immediately headed home and had a relaxing hot shower. Catherine sat in bed with her daughter asleep by her side going over the file Family Services left her eariler, still unable to believe that this was happening to her. Brass immediately headed to the shooting range, releasing tension that had been building up since they got assigned this case. Nick did his paperwork and regularly checked on his three-year-old daughter before falling asleep himself.

What everyone did was different. Everyone's personalities are different. But what brought them together is their passion for justice. And it was also the little things they shared that made them more than simple workmates and friends. It made them a family.

And nothing could change that.

* * *

><p><strong>Just thought I'd add that bit in for the sake of it. After a case like that, I thought it'd be nice. Anonymous is next in the episode list.<strong>

**BYE!**


	9. Anonymous

**Anonymous: A man is found dead in a bathtub in a hotel, the victim of another staged suicide. Grissom, Sara and Catherine realise that the serial killer has knowledge in forensic science. Nick and Warrick investigate a tourist's car which tumbled over the ledge of a highway. But it's a certain someone's three-year-old daughter who works it out before them...**

**Next, Unfriendly Skies: On a flight en route to Las Vegas from Atlanta, a first class passenger is killed. Brass, Grissom and his Graveyard shift are called in. But they find their time limit short when the sherif announces they have 12 hours to solve the case before the FBI takes over their investigation. The victim's fellow passengers are reluctant to cooperate, causing the team to suspect their involvement in his death.**

**Then, Sex, Lies and Larvae: A body covered in insects is found in the desert, causing Grissom and Sara to launch an investigation. With help from the entomological evidence, Grissom discovers the time of death. Unfortunately, the husband – who is also the prime suspect – claims to be out of town around time of death and appears to be getting away with his wife's murder, much to Sara's dismay. Meanwhile, Warrick and Catherine work the case of a house call where a valuable painting is stolen. In another case, a woman's car is found at the bus station with the driver missing, forcing Nick to launch a missing persons case.**

**Later, I-15 Murders: A middle-aged woman is abducted from a local supermarket. When inspecting the bathroom, Grissom finds a message on a stall door that makes him suspect that this has happened before. Despite their personal differences, Warrick and Sara have to work together when an apparent robbery goes wrong and a man finds his brother murdered in his apartment. Meanwhile, Kristy Hopkins (from the pilot episode) finds herself in trouble again after getting into a beef with a hotel security guard and she calls on Nick to rescue her.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Fahrenheit 932  
><strong>**Boom  
><strong>**To Halve and to Hold  
><strong>**Table Stakes  
><strong>**Too Tough to Die  
><strong>**Face Lift  
><strong>**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler (Season 1 finale)**

**I own nothing aside from Kady. ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>Oooh, someone's on a nice vacation. He's in a nice hotel suite at the Hotel Monaco. And he's drinking vodka on his bed. Well, this IS Las Vegas. Who knows what's bound to happen here? ...Probably shouldn't have said that.<p>

The next thing we knew, he's walking to the bathroom. Using the back of his hand, he wiped the mirror clean of the fog. He just stared at himself for a few moments before turning around and...BAM!

* * *

><p>Ah, here comes Grissom! It's obvious what's happened here. But I shall continue for you guys. Once Grissom reached the door, the officer just told Grissom to go inside. And Grissom did. When he arriced, he saw Brass standing there with two officers.<p>

"Oh...you're going to love this," Brass remarked before covering his face and opening the bathroom door to reveal a dead body in a bathtub. Look familiar? I should think so... "Ring any bells? Rub-a-dub-dub. Dead man in a tub." **(Me: I FRICKING LOVE YOU, BRASS! Jason: Was that necessary? Me: Haven't seen you for a while. And yes. Yes it was. LEGGO!)**

"Sleeping bag for easy cleanup. Open window so the stench alerts the neighbours. It's Royce Harmon all over again," Grissom realised as he set up, "What do you think? 'Suicide' note in the same place?"

"You tell me, Karnak," Brass said.

That was when Grissom looked into the bathtub at the dead body inside. And noticed the tape recorder clutched in his right hand. Grabbing it with a latex glove, he looked at it.

"Now that's weird," Brass commented.

"Not weird. Intentional," Grissom corrected before hitting the play button.

"_...narl loop sair momoph reet reet seer pute narfenging..._"

"What kind of language is that? Swedish?" Brass demanded.

"It's backward," Grissom answered, "Would you excuse me for a minute?"

"Sure. OK," Brass nodded before leaving.

"He OK in there?" Officer Arvington asked worriedly.

"Quincy wants to be alone. We had a case like this almost two months ago. **(AN: I'm going from the time the episodes premiered. Not the actual timeline in this. Why? Because I can...)** A guy found dead in his bathtub. Turned out the suicide was staged. Found a mini-recorder as a suicide note. Killer may have struck again," Brass explained to the officer as he glanced at the closed bathroom doors.

"Why does he want to be alone?" Officer Arvington questioned.

"He wants to get his mojo working," was Brass' answer.

"_My name is Stuart Rampler. I reside at 818 Noeing Hill Court, Las Vegas, Nevada. I am 43 years of age, and I'm going to kill myself. I just can't do it anymore. I love you, mum._"

"You're back," Grissom sighed.

*music starts*

Crime

Scene

Investigation

Starring William Peterson

Marg Helgenberger

Gary Dourdan

George Eads

Jorja Fox

And Paul Guilfoyle

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

Grissom walked into the crime lab with assignment sheets in one hand and the tape recorder (bagged, of course) in the other. When he looked up, he saw Shibley. Ah. Perfect timing, I dare say.

"Shibley, take this recorder to the print lab. Have Mandy dust it and run prints on it right away," Grissom instructed as he handed him the tape recorder.

"Photos from tonight's suicide. Put a rush on them for you," Shibley returned with a large envelope.

"Photos. Thank you," Grissom thanked as he accepted them...and heard what sounded like a football game from the break room. Wanna know what gave him that idea? The ref's whistle.

* * *

><p>"Oh!" Nick moaned.<p>

"Throw the bag, ref!" Warrick pleaded.

"Uncatchable, bro!" Nick remarked.

Yep. Warrick and Nick are playing video games in the break room. Kady was sitting inbetween them unfazed by her father acting like a child...well, her age. In fact, she was cheering both her father and her godfather on.

"Hey. Elmo. Come over here for a second, will ya?" Warrick requested as he pulled Kady to his lap, making Nick nervous.

"Hey. What are you doing with my kid?" Nick demanded.

"Relax, Nicky. The Cookie Monster is not gonna hurt your precious butterfly, alright? I just need her to do something," Warrick reassured him, "Hey, Kady. Wanna help me here? Sweet. Alright. You just place your hands on the controller here and use these buttons to kick your daddy's butt."

With Warrick's help, Kady began playing football against her old man. She even helped Warrick take the lead and eventually, win. Nick's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe it. Kady had won. Already, she was kicking his butt. And she's only three! Suddenly, Grissom walked inside.

"Hey! You guys want an assignment slip or a pink slip?" Grissom threatened in irritation.

Immediately, Warrick, Nick and even Kady froze. After shutting down the game, Warrick and Nick stood. Warrick had Kady in his arms immediately.

"Just taking a little coffee break," Warrick defended.

"Is it true?" Nick immediately asked.

"Same guy?" Kady added.

"I don't know, alligator. But we'll see. For you two buffoons, here. 410. Reckless driver out at Hoover Dam. Car went over a cliff. Anonymous caller. Could be foul play," Grissom explained as he handed Warrick the assignment sheet.

"Oh, me and him, working together? Oh, it's on," Warrick laughed.

"You're going down, bro," Nick swore as he took the assignment sheet.

"Oh boy," Kady moaned as she shook her head with a hand on her forehead.

She may be three. But she already knows how Nick and Warrick can be when they work together. Immediately, she knew she would be screwed. Completely, utterly screwed.

"Hey! Work together tonight. Alright? And keep an extra eye on Kady, you two. Rough terrain. Three-year-old girl who always runs off at a crime scene. You get the picture," Grissom warned.

"Always do," Nick nodded.

Once Grissom left the room, Nick and Warrick looked at each other and smiled widely. Both of them were thinking the same thing: game on. Kady just sighed and shook her head.

"I'm done for," Kady proclaimed.

"No you're not," Warrick promised with a laugh.

"Not with us around," Nick added as he kissed her cheek and took her from Warrick.

"Come on. Oh! You're driving! I'm riding in the back with your kid," Warrick announced.

"Fine with me," Nick shrugged as they left the building.

* * *

><p>"OK. We're going off the board tonight," Grissom said to Catherine and Sara as they walked into Grissom's office.<p>

"Off the board?" Sara repeated in confusion.

"'The ones that got away.' Fish," Catherine explained.

"Ah. I missed that one," Sara confessed rather sheepishly.

As he took some photos down from the large fish-shaped corkboard, Grissom began explaining,

"First victim: Royce Harmon. About three months ago, Brass and I found this guy dead in his own bathtub. But his 'suicide' was staged. I think the killer has killed again. *hands photos to Sara* Photo's of tonight's victim: Stuart Rampler. Play the 'pick-the-six-things-that-are-different' game. Bet you lose."

Together, Catherine and Sara looked at the photos from their latest crime scene. They couldn't see any differences between the crime scene of Stuart Rampler and Royce Harmon.

"This guy's good," Sara commented.

"Not good. Exceptional. Print examiner lifted a thumbprint off the mini-recorder near the tub of our first victim. The print came back this," Catherine corrected as she showed Sara the fake hand made by Paul Millander.

"The killer purchased one of these rubber hands, laced the fingertips with cooking spray and proceeded to place false prints all around the crime scene," Grissom explained.

"This guy is good. Whose prints are these?" Sara asked.

"Some guy who works in a warehouse making Halloween paraphernalia. Scary masks, air-brushed tombstones, rubber hands; turns out he used his own hand for the mold," Grissom answered.

"So what do we do?" Catherine asked.

"We split up. You and I go to the coroner. Sara, you got to the hotel. Dust every inch of that bathroom. Here. Use this," Grissom requested as he gave Sara a container filled with red dust, "Red Creeper. My own concoction."

"Wow," Sara whistled.

"Well, serious case, serious print powder. Be thorough. Don't take anything for granted," Grissom warned.

"Yes, sir," Sara nodded before leaving the office.

Eventually, Catherine and Grissom followed.

* * *

><p>Nick, Warrick and Kady entered the crash sight at the bottom of the cliff near Hoover Dam. Warrick was carrying both his and Nick's kit so Nick could piggy-back Kady to the sight. The rocky terrain was too dangerous for her. So he carried her down. He loved having her on his back. It made him feel proud to be a father.<p>

"Everyone still breathing in that car?" Warrick asked.

"So far," the paramedic answered.

"Call came in blind. You see who could have made it?" Nick questioned as he boosted Kady up his back a little more.

"No. We were first on the scene. Fire department came in two minutes behind. Place was dead quiet," he explained as the fire department cut away the top of the car and began working on the unconscious man in the back seat.

"Where's the driver? He get thrown?" Warrick guessed.

"Didn't find anybody," the officer shook his head.

"I'm thinking DUI," Nick voiced his thoughts aloud.

"You calling it?" Warrick demanded.

"I'm calling that beer bottle," Nick retorted as he bent down and picked up the bottle with his pen.

"How do you know it's from the car?" Warrick wanted to know.

"It's still cold. Foam in the bottle. Take it up top?" Nick suggested.

"After you. And this time, I carry Kady up," Warrick said as he gave Nick their kits and took Kady from him.

* * *

><p>"I've read Klausbach's report on Royce Harmon, the first staged suicide," Doc Robbins started as he brought the body out of storage and approached Grissom and Catherine.<p>

"Similarities?" Grissom asked.

"Well, based on the entry wound, they were both murdered. But here's where it gets fun," Doc Robbins began explaining the injuries and bringing up Stuart's left hand.

"That looks like he got shot trying to protect himself," Catherine remarked.

"What else, Doc? My mind is painting," Grissom quipped.

"He was paid a little visit from Mr Muzzle stamp," Doc Robbins added, pointing to the bruise on his temple.

"Forced into tub at gunpoint?" Catherine guessed.

"OK. Let's play it out. The killer's got him at gunpoint, right? Standing over him like this. But this time, things got messy. Royce Harmon didn't fight back. That's why there was no muzzle bruising to his temple."

"Stuart Rampler was resistant. He didn't want to get into that tub too easily. He took a few jabs to the temple," Catherine continued Grissom's theory.

"But the killer just lost round one. We know how he gets his vics into the tub and we know that both deaths were homicides," Grissom finished.

"Not a bad start," Catherine commented.

* * *

><p>"The skid started way up the road. I got him doing at least 70," Nick remarked as he approached Warrick and a sleeping Kady at the railing.<p>

"More like 80," Warrick retorted as he gently bounced Kady a little.

'These grooves are from the car's frame. It balanced before it fell," Nick stated before looking at shoe prints, "This is where he bailed. Wide spacing, slipping of the heel: he ran."

"Who?" Warrick asked as he handed Kady to Nick so he could take a photo.

"The phantom driver," Nick answered as he rocked Kady a little.

_Begin flashback ((NICK'S VERSION))  
><em>"_Hey. Hand me another beer," Walter Banglor requested._

"_No. You've had enough," the Phantom Driver denied._

_They both stared down the road before them. That was when they saw bright lights. Immediately, they thought, 'Oh shit!' They were in the path of an oncoming truck! The horns are blaring and the car begins to swerve._

"_Hey! Hey!" the Phantom Driver yelled._

_The tires squealed as some reckless driving began to happen. Eventually, the car crashed through the railing and began teetering on the edge of the embankment near the dam. The engine continued to run. Scared out of his wits, the Phantom Driver bailed, leaving his passenger to die. We don't know what happens next after being abandoned. Except that the driver bailed and the screams of Walter could be heard as the car tumbled down the cliff face and into the ravine.  
><em>_End flashback_

"So your drunk driver just got out and ran away?" Warrick summised, earing Nick's nod in response, "Where to?"

"I don't know. That's why we're up here. But he left his buddy hanging out to dry. I can tell you that," Nick answered.

"Then how do you explain car number two?" Warrick smirked.

"Driver ran to this point, car picks him up. Here are your tracks. Probably took him to the hospital," Nick explained with a shrug.

"Not if we have these," Warrick retorted as he referred to the tracks in the dirt, "They're kind of out of place. A walking stride up to the edge. *takes photos* No. This is a crime, not an accident."

"You care to back that statement up? My phantom driver against your criminal?" Nick challenged.

"How much?" Warrick demanded.

"Fifty," Nick offered.

"I don't get out of bed for less than a bill," Warrick laughed.

Nick laughed too and they shook on it. Then Nick felt Kady shift against him as she began waking up.

"Hey! Sleeping Beauty is finally awake!" Warrick cheered.

"Shut up, Warrick," Kady requested kindly as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, causing both men to laugh.

"I taught her well," Nick commented, "Come on. Let's go to breakfast."

"Sweet. I could use some breakfast," Warrick said as he followed his best friend and his goddaughter to the car.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Evans," Sara greeted as she walked into the hotel bathroom.<p>

"Hi," Evans returned, "Victim's name is Stuart Rampler. Lives in town. Reserved a room for one night because his house was being fumigated."

"Hmm. Find anything unusual?" Sara asked.

"I bagged a couple of utility bills. Ready for mail. It's almost as if he wanted to take care of some unfinished business before he checked out," Evans remarked.

"Well, it's not likely. His suicide was staged," Sara told him as she began going through the bills...before noticing something unusual.

"It's an upside-down stamp. What does that mean?" Evans quizzed.

"I don't know," Sara confessed.

With that said, Sara began to set up her kit. Moments later, she was using Grissom's Red Creeper on the bathroom pipes before going on to the actual bathtub where the murder took place. Sara had to admit: she was impressed.

"Wow. This stuff rocks. I love bathrooms. Last time I printed a hotel bathroom, I had over a thousand prints," Sara remarked before finishing dusting the bathtub, "OK. Close the doors and hit the lights, Daddy-Oh."

Evans immediately did as he was told. He closed the bathroom doors and switched off the lights. When that was done, Sara placed her goggles over her eyes and activated the ALS. However, she had findings that she had a hard time believing.

"Not a single print!" Sara gasped.

"He wiped it clean," Evans stated.

"Yeah. This guy's a real pro. Not only did he wipe it clean – it's sterile," Sara corrected.

* * *

><p>Catherine and Grissom found themselves back in the residence of Paige Harmon. They needed more answers from the elderly woman, hoping they could bring them closer to catching the killer of Royce Harmon and Stuart Rampler.<p>

"I thought you were going to tell me that you caught him," Paige confessed.

"Mrs Harmon, we believe that the person who did this to your son may have done it to someone else and we need your help," Grissom explained.

"Well, what can I do?" Paige immediately asked.

"We talked to the second victim's girlfriend – played his suicide recording for her. She confirmed that it was his voice," Catherine told her.

"But I already told you that the voice on that tape was not my son's," Paige reminded them.

"I know. We just need to be absolutely certain. Do you have a recording of your son's voice so that we can tie the killings together?" Catherine asked her.

"Anything, Mrs Harmon. A home movie? A recorded message off your answering machine?" Grissom pressed.

"All I have a pictures. ...I may have something," Paige suddenly stood up and grabbed a picture frame, "Royce gave this to me for mother's day last year. It's a talking frame. It's all I have left."

"_Hey, mum. It's Royce. I know you're always complaining you don't hear my voice in the house anymore. Well, now you can listen to it anytime you want. I love you, mum._"

"I love you too," Paige replied softly.

* * *

><p>"Mr Backseat going to make it?" Nick asked Dr Leever as the two of them along with Warrick and Kady walk down the hospital hallways.<p>

"Name's Walkter Banglor. He'll live," Dr Leever answered.

"He well enough to talk?" Nick questioned.

"Subdural hematoma, compound rib fractures...," Dr Leever began listing Walter's injuries.

"Alright, alright. I get the picture. How long until we can see him?" Nick demanded impatiently.

"He never said we couldn't," Kady reminded him as she looked up at her father.

Nick looked down at his daughter and smiled as they walked hand-in-hand down the hallways. His daughter was right. Dr Leever never did say that they weren't allowed to see Walter.

_Wow. When did my daughter get so smart?_ Nick couldn't help but think. Warrick and Dr Leever laughed.

"She's right. I never said you couldn't," Dr Leever laughed before leading them to the hospital room and pulling back the curtain, "He's sedated. If you want to talk to him, you're going to have to wait until he comes off his meds in about 12 to 24 hours."

"Dang it!" Warrick and Kady remarked while Nick just sighed.

"Tan lines. No watch and no ring," Warrick stated.

"Check his personal effects," Nick instructed.

Warrick picked up the envelope that was nearby. Nick, Warrick and Kady checked out the contents together. Warrick emptied them onto the table. All that fell out was his wallet.

"That's it?" Nick and Kady asked.

"Must have been one hell of a fall to knock his watch and his ring of...and take his money," Warrick remarked, "So what do you say? Do you want to up the stakes another hundred?"

"To what? A deuce?" Nick laughed.

"Say my foul play against your phantom driver?" Warrick challenged.

"You bet," Nick immediately agreed.

With a smile, they sealed the deal with their secret handshake. Dr Leever just sighed and shook his head before turning to Kady near him.

"How do you deal with these clowns everyday?" he asked.

"It takes practice," Kady shrugged back at the older man.

"Hey!" Nick and Warrick exclaimed in mock offence.

"Come here, you," Nick growled playfully as he fell to his knees and pulled his daughter to his chest, torturing her with tickles in the process.

"Daddy!" Kady squealed as she squirmed against him, "Stop! Please!"

"Are you gonna take back what you said?" Nick asked her.

"Nope!" Kady shook her head.

"Then no," Nick answered evilly as he playfully pinned her to the ground and tickled her more, her giggles sounding like music to his ears.

"I'm sorry! I take it back! Stop! Please!" Kady pleaded.

Nick kept his promise and stopped torturing his three-year-old with tickles. Kady lied on the floor panting. She was breathless from the 'torture' her daddy gave her. Still smiling, Nick moved some of her soft curls from her eyes and kissed her forehead. Warrick smiled. This was just too cute. So he discretely took a photo with his personal camera. He planned on getting it processed later.

* * *

><p>"OK. I've got Stuart Rampler's DNA profile ready. All I need is something to compare it to," Greg announced in the DNA lab as Sara tested the upside-down stamp.<p>

"Coming right up. Let's see if we can find out who this Licker is," Sara remarked as she handed the sample vial to Greg.

Greg accepted the vial and placed it in the machine before switching it on. **(AN: I have no idea what it's called. I'm going off the transcript again and it doesn't say. But I'm guessing GC Mass Spec.)** A little while later, the results were being printed out. Greg took the piece of paper out of the printer and read it before looking at Sara who was waiting expectantly for results.

"What do you got?" Sara asked.

"Well, according to the DNA, Stuart Rampler licked the right-side-up stamps," Greg started.

"What about the envelope with the upside-down stamp?" Sara demanded.

"Well, it came back unknown," Greg finished.

"He's toying with us," Sara thought aloud.

"Who?" Greg wanted to know.

"Anonymous," Sara answered.

* * *

><p>When Warrick walked into the CSI Garage, he saw Nick fuming the entire car. He noticed that Kady was wearing a mask over her face to protect her from the fumes (Nick made her wear one).<p>

"Supergluing the entire car? It's a little excessive, don't you think?" Warrick asked rhetorically.

"Hey, man. This is war," Nick retorted.

Warrick chuckled and kissed Kady's head before saying to Nick, "You know, I checked with six different medical centres, and no Phantom Driver at any of them."

"Minor setback. How about the 911 call?" Nick asked.

"Las Vegas cell phone. PD's putting a name to it now," Warrick answered.

"Good," Nick commented.

"What's all this?" Warrick questioned referring to the sheets.

"Car was rented from the airport three days ago," Nick explained.

"To...?" Warrick drawled.

"Walter Banglor. I figure Vegas vacation. Side trip to Hoover Dam," Nick told him. **(AN: Why do I keep going to type 'damn' whenever I type something about Hoover Dam?)**

"Makes sense," Warrick remarked, earning a hum in agreement, "You find his watch and ring?"

"No," Nick admitted begrudgingly.

"Oh, my pockets are getting fat!" Warrick laughed in joy.

"No! He travels light! There was only a change of clothes in the damn suitcase," Nick defended.

"God, you see all that money in there?" Warrick tormented poor Nick.

"Alright, the fumes have settled. Give me a hand," Nick requested.

"Yeah," Warrick nodded.

Together, Warrick and Nick lift the plastic sheet off of the car. When they did, Nick immediately noticed the set of fingerprints on the steering wheel.

"You can run, but you can't hide," Nick said to himself.

"You saying that about your mystery driver or your daughter who just decided to run off and play hide-and-seak with you?" Warrick asked rhetorically as he held up Kady's mask.

"I think I know where she is," Nick smirked.

Expertly, he snuck around the garage so Kady wouldn't see him coming. Not that she could... Nick opened the door to one of the cupboards nearby and playfully kidnapped his daughter.

"You can run. But the Daddy Monster always finds ya!" Nick proclaimed with a playful roar.

* * *

><p>"'Disco Placid' – what's that?" Catherine wanted to know as she walked down the hallways of CSI with Grissom.<p>

"He's a jazz producer. Specializes in audio. Does voice comparisons for me from time to time. He hears in perfect pitch," Grissom boasted.

"Really?" Catherine says.

"He's gifted," Grissom commented.

"_Yeah, better leave young thing alone. But ain't no sunshine when she's gone..._"

Yep. That's Disco Placid for ya. Sitting there with his earphones listening to the classic 'Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone' by Bill Whithers. Behind him, Grissom and Catherine have arrived. After a moment, he noticed his new company and smiled before removing his earphones. Yeah man...well, that was random.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Grissom remarked.

"Oh, that's Bill Withers, man. The man cuts me up inside," Disco Placid confessed.

"Catherine Willows, Disco Placid," Grissom introduced the two.

"A pleasure," Catherine commented.

"A pleasure," Disco Placid repeated.

_Ain't no sunshine when she's gone..._

"How are we coming with our voice comparisons?" Grissom asked.

"Got it right here. All I got to do is, uh, heat things up. It's a mini-cassette recording of the first victim," Disco Placid told them.

"_I'm going to kill myself._"

"Comparing the 'I love you's...," Disco Placid announced before doing so.

"_I just can't do it anymore. I love you, mum._"

"Now the talking frame," Disco Placid added the frame.

"_Now you can listen to it anytime you want. I love you, mum._"

"Minnesota Twins," Disco Placid remarked.

"The mother was wrong. That is her son's voice," Catherine realised.

"I laid in both suicide notes in the computer, stripped the tracks one by one. Picked this up in the b-ground," Disco Placid told them before playing the tape with the mystery sound.

"_My name is Royce Harmon. I reside at 7642 Carpenter Street, Las Vegas, Nevada. I am 41 years old age._"

"What is that?" Grissom immediately asked.

"I don't know, man. It sounds like a flag or a tarp or something. Give me a sec. I'll give it to you in a Chinese to-go box," Disco Placid said.

"Play the second victim's tape," Catherine requested.

"OK," Disco Placid nodded.

"_My name is Stuart Rampler. I reside at 818 Boeing Hill Court, Las Vegas..._"

Disco Placid turned the tape off. Behind them, Grissom pulled out a random sheet of paper. Suddenly, he had an idea of what the sound in both tapes is. He waved his sheet of paper around. They sound exactly the same.

"No. Play it through," Catherine told him.

"_...Nevada. I am 43 years of age, and I'm going to kill myself._"

"Play them side by side," Grissom wanted.

"_My name is Royce Harmon/Stuart Rampler. I reside at 818 Boeing Hill/7642 Carpenter Street. Las Vegas, Nevada. I am 41/43 years of age._"

"It's 'fill in the blanks'," Grissom realised.

"He's just reading from a suicide script," Catherine added, causing Grissom to wave the sheet again, "What do you think?"

"Disco," Disco Placid smirked.

* * *

><p>Inside the print lab was Mandy looking into a microscope. Something interested her. She didn't know what. But it was interesting. Suddenly, she felt a tugging on her lab coat. She looked down and smiled immediately. She knew who it was.<p>

"Hi, Kady!" Mandy greeted happily as she settled the three-year-old on her hip.

Obviously, Kady is pretty close to the lab techs here. From time to time, if needed, they would babysit Kady for Nick if he was going to the morgue or he was working a case he didn't want Kady to know about. And they were always happy to. Kady always brought sunshine to their work. Her bubbly personality always brought a smile to everyone.

"Hi," Kady returned as she hugged Mandy.

"So I've got some good news and mysterious news," Mandy announced to Nick and Warrick.

"Give me the good news," Nick pleaded his friend.

"Well, your results are back from the prints on the car. And your vic, Walter Banglor, is top of the list," Mandy began explaining as she handed Nick a list.

"It's a big list," Nick remarked.

"You fumed the entire car. What did you expect?" Mandy retorted.

"What's the mysterious news?" Warrick wanted to know.

"I found some speckles of blue dust in the rides of Banglor's print. Here. Look it," Mandy invited.

Warrick looked into the microscope. He saw the blue dist in Walter's fingerprint. He couldn't recognise it.

"Let me see," Nick requested.

Immediately, Warrick moved aside. Nick looked into the microscope at Walter's fingerprint. Like his friend, he didn't recognize it.

"What do you think?" Warrick asked.

"I have no idea," Nick responded.

"Can I have a look please?" Kady asked.

"Of course you can," Mandy immediately answered as she helped Kady look into it.

"Chalk," Kady suddenly announced.

"Chalk?" Nick repeated.

"Chalk," Kady nodded.

* * *

><p>"I did some comparative digging on both victims – Royce Harmon and Stuart Rampler. Both are white males in their 40s, single and...both have the same birthday," Sara announced to her collegues.<p>

"Royce Harmon, born August 17, 1958. Stuart Rampler, born August 17, 1957. One year apart," Grissom stated.

"OK. SO maybe it's some reverse or backwards pattern. August 17, 1958...1957. The suicide message was recorded backwards, the postage stamp was upside-down," Catherine listed.

"Yeah," Sara agreed.

"Maybe he's telling us: in norder to go forward, go back, Sara, go back one more year – August 17, 1956. See if anything pops up with the same M.O," Grissom instructed.

"I'm gone," was Sara's response before walking away...and Mandy walked in.

"Mr Grissom, the prints are back from Stuart Rampler's mini-recorder," Mandy told him.

* * *

><p>"Can we see the print?" Grissom requested.<p>

"Not print – prints," Mandy corrected.

"What do you mean? It's more than one person?" Catherine asked.

"It's two thumbprints overlapped," Mandy explained.

"Can you seperate them?" Grissom asked.

"Yeah. Running both prints through AFIS," Mandy said.

When she did, the prints came back something interesting. The first print came back UNKNOWN. But the second print? COMPLIANCE. I wonder what that means...

"How can that be?" Mandy asked rhetorically.

"Compliance?" Catherine read as Mandy looked at the printout.

"Someone within the department?" Grissom added as Mandy looked at the results and at Grissom and Catherine, "What?"

"Uh, Catherine, can you excuse us for a moment? I need to speak with Mr Grissom in private," Mandy said.

"Anything you have to say to me, you can say to her," Grissom immediately butted in.

"Well, the top print came back Paul Millander," Mandy started.

"I expected that. He's the guy who makes the rubber hands. I've already cleared him," Grissom explained, "What about the compliance? The bottom print?"

"It came back you," Mandy finally finished.

"It's Grissom's print?" Catherine repeated, earning a nod from Mandy, "Wait a minute. Somebody got ahold of your prints."

"How? I wear gloves at every crime scene. I was printed for the job. We all were," Grissom reminded Catherine.

"Well, somebody's obviously making this personal. They could've got your print from a glass that you've touched at a restaurant. From one of Kady's toys that you use to play with her. From a latex glove that you discarded and they turned inside out...," Catherine trailed off as she realised something, "Oh God...'

"I get it. Whoever it is is telling me that he's got me under his thumb," Grissom realized.

* * *

><p>Inside the break room, Nick had Kady in his lap and they were reading the list of names from the prints in the car. As they did so, Warrick came in.<p>

"So...who's your Phantom Driver?" Warrick asked.

"Possibly a cop from Philly. Or a...a nurse from Omaha. Don't forget the mail carrier from Nashville," Nick laughed.

"Man, it's a rental. Those prints are probably older than you are," Warrick retorted.

"Well, this is going nowhere," Nick sighed as he let Kady have some of his orange juice.

"You giving up?" Warrick tormented.

"No, no, no, no. We're still on. I may be stalled, but I'm not out," Nick swore.

"You want to take it to three?" Warrick challenged.

"You want to take it to three?" Nick repeated before the sealed the deal with a fist bump, "You still think he was robbed?"

"Tan lines wehre his ring and watch used to be. On vacation in Vegas, but no money in his wallet. His face all bruised up before he took that cliffside tumble. Damn right! I think he was robbed," Warrick answered.

_Begin flashback ((WARRICK'S VERSION))  
><em>_A man can be seen running out into the highway to flag down the moving car...driven by Walter._

"_HEY!" he called out, "HEY!"_

_Surprised, Walter dropped his beer bottle and hit the breaks. Sadly, that wasn't enough. The car still served and crashed through the railing at the edge of the road. Now, it's see-sawing._

"_You alright, man?" he asked._

"_Yeah. Yeah. I guess so," Walter panted._

_Suddenly, the guy put a gun to Walter and said, "I want the ring, the watch and all your cash."_

"_OK, alright," Walter nodded nervously as he went to retrieve those things._

"_Come on!" the guy yelled._

"_Alright! Alright!" Walter said as he handed everything to the guy._

"_Now get your ass in the back," the guy instructed._

"_What?" Walter demanded._

"_I SAID GET YOUR ASS IN THE BACK!" the guy snapped, causing Walter to immediately scramble to the back, "Strap in!"_

"_OK," Walter nodded fearfully as he did so, before the motorist went to the back of the car and began to push it over, "What are you doing?"  
><em>_End flashback_

"He lays in wait, he robs him, he tries to kill him, but he lets him buckle in?" Nick repeated.

"I don't think the robber expected Banglor to get drunk and go crash his car. He probably freaked and put him in the back seat trying to fool me into thinking someone else was driving. But he only fooled you," Warrick smiled.

"What about the chalk, Uncle Warrick?" Kady suddenly asked.

"What about it, Elmo?" Warrick returned.

"Don't you think it matters?" Nick asked, "And since when is it chalk?"

"It looks like the chalk I play with at home," Kady told him.

"Maybe. There's other questions to answer first," Warrick reminded them.

"OK. Like?' Nick pressed.

"Footprints and tire tracks," Warrick answered.

"I hate you," Nick grumbled.

"You love me. Who you kidding?" Warrick smirked.

* * *

><p>Hey! We're back at Halloweird. How cool is that? Yeah, not really. We're in the domain of a serial killer here! Not that we know it, yet...<p>

"Mr Millander?" Grissom called as he walked into the main warehouse.

Paul looked up from the sculture he was working on, "Hey! It's the forensics guy! I forgot your name. I-I'm sorry."

"Gil Grissom," Grissom introduced himself as they shook hands.

"Hi, Mr Grissom. It's been a couple of months. How are you, sir?" Paul asked.

"I'm OK. What are you making?" Grissom questioned.

Paul turned the head around and showed Grissom proudly, "I-I-I call it...'Good versus Evil.' You like it?"

"Yeah. It reminds me of our supervisor on days," Grissom remarked. **(Me: So true. Ecklie: HEY! Me: What are you doing here? Get lost! Ecklie: That's no way to talk to an undersheriff. Me: You're not undersheriff yet, dumbass. So I can talk to you anyway I like!)**

"So what brings you to my humble abode?" Paul wanted to know.

"I have a couple of questions regarding that staged suicide. Remember?" Grissom told him.

"Yeah. How's that going?" Paul quizzed.

"Not too well," Grissom answered sadly.

"Say, w-would you like a cup of coffee? I got instant," Paul offered.

"Sure," Grissom offered.

Together, Grissom and Paul went to the back to grab some coffee. Whilst following him, Grissom took the opportunity to look around.

"I envy you, Mr Millander. I do. You can work by yourself...no one around to bother you. You just...do what you do. I'd love to have that kind of autonomy," Grissom confessed, "Well, then again, I wouldn't be able to see my goddaughter as much."

"It's really all I know. I...started out doing ice carvings. But the artwork never lasted," Paul laughed.

"I know what you mean," Grissom chuckled as Paul handed Grissom his cup of coffee, "Thank you."

"Let's sit," Paul suggested before they sat down, "How can I help you?"

"Do you remember the, uh, rubber hand mold that you made from your own hand?" Grissom started.

"How could I forget?" Paul retorted.

"Well, whoever the perpetrator is has killed again. And again, your print came up. So I was wondering if you could help me," Grissom continued.

"Sure," Paul nodded.

"The last time we talked, you told me that you had sold several thousand units last Halloween?' Grissom went on.

"Bestseller. Yes, sir," Paul boasted proudly.

"Could you provide me with a list of your distributors?" Grissom requested.

"I don't really have a list. Uh...why?" Paul wanted to know.

"I was hoping to do a credit card search...go back ten days before the first murder occurred...try and run some names...see if any priors pop up," Grissom explained.

"I would really love to help you, Mr Grissom. But...I just don't keep track of...of individual purchasers. I-I-I'm just a wholesaler. I don't...I don't crunch numbers. I-I just spook the children," Paul apologised.

"Of course you do. I'm sure you do it well," Grissom commented as he sipped his coffee.

"You say you have a goddaughter. How old is she, might I ask?" Paul asked.

"She's three years old. Her father's one of my work collegues and a dear friend of mine. Actually, her father's someone I consider a son. Her mother, an extraordinary woman whom I considered a daughter, died when she was born. Her name's Kadelin. But everyone calls her Kady," Grissom explained as he showed Paul a photo of her in his wallet.

"She's beautiful," Paul complimented.

"Yes, she is," Grissom agreed.

* * *

><p>"Finally!" Warrick cheered as he found the shoe prints.<p>

"Hey, partner. You get a match yet?" Nick asked as he walked in eating an apple, "Ooh! Converse All-Star!"

"Size 11," Kady added as she hugged her daddy around his middle from Warrick's lap.

"And you needed all the books for that? Those soles have been around 20 years," Nick reminded Warrick.

"I needed to be sure!" Warrick defended.

"You look tired, buddy. You want me to make you a bottle? Go nigh-nigh?" Nick teased.

"You want me to clock that jaw? Make YOU go nigh-nigh?" Warrick retorted.

"Hey!" Kady exclaimed

"I don't mean it, baby," Warrick reassured his goddaughter.

"You should have worked the tire tracks. Jimmy in trace put together a digital catalog of treads...has thousands on file. Took me three minutes," Nick boasted as he gave Warrick the folder so he could read the results for himself.

"Pirelli low profile p-zeros. High performance," Warrick read.

"And standard on your alleged getaway vehicle...the '99 Bentley Armage, red label. It's a sweet ride, man – handcrafted. So, how many people in Vegas you think drive that kind of price tag?" Nick asked.

* * *

><p>"Three. Did a DMV search," Brass answered in the hallway.<p>

"Any reported stolen?" Warrick questioned.

"Yeah. One. Last week. It came in a couple of hours ago," Brass told them before holding up photos, "Take a look."

"Oh-ho! So sweet!" Nick and Kady remarked.

"Ha. You taught her well," Brass laughed.

"Check this. One-to-one says that's the car," Warrick betted.

"Yeah, well, don't bet the sub shop, Warrick. That's about all the evidence you're going to get out of the Bentley. We found it at a car wash off of Warm Springs. It's been vacuumed detailed – the whole works. It's cleaner than brand new," Brass announced.

"Well, I wish Banglor's rental car company were as considerate as your thief," Nick tormented with a laugh.

"Hey, Kady. How much are your daddy and Warrick betting?" Brass asked.

"Three," Kady answered before adding two zeros with her fist.

"Three hundred? Oh dear God," Brass sighed.

* * *

><p>"Dr Livingston," Brass greeted as he walked into Grissom's office, "Your dead man is making cash withdrawals."<p>

"Which one? The first victim or the second?" Grissom immediately demanded.

"The second. Stuart Rampler. The bank called. His ATM card showed a couple of withdrawals after his time of death," Brrass explained.

"ATM machines take photographs every three seconds. Maybe we can get a Kodak moment of this guy. I want the machien here. I want prints. I want film. I want everything," Grissom requested.

"The whole machine?" Brass repeated.

"Yeah. The whole machine," Grissom agreed.

"OK," Brass nodded before leaving the office.

* * *

><p>Inside the evidence room, Nick was going through Walter Banglor's clothing. Next to him, Kady was sitting on the table drinking her water. She was helping him look for anything particular.<p>

"Daddy, look," Kady said as she pointed to the blue stain near the jean's button fly, "Chalk."

"Nice find," Nick complimented as he kissed Kady's temple and took a swab of it.

"You got his clothes?" Warrick stated as he walked in.

"That's right," Nick nodded.

"What are you doing? His laundry?" Warrick tormented.

"Something to compare our mystery blue dust to," Nick retorted as he held up the swab.

"Ah," Warrick hummed.

"Chalk," Kady corrected.

* * *

><p>"So, what's the pot up to?" Greg asked as he began testing the blue substance.<p>

"We don't bet on cases," Nick defended flatly.

"Ah. Of course you don't," Greg agreed sarcastically, "So who's winning?"

"I am," both Nick and Warrick answered.

"Fiends," Greg sighed, "Kady, what's the pot up to?"

"Three," Kady answered the same way she did with Brass.

"Three hundred?" Greg repeated in disbelief as the results came in, "Your mystery dust is...silicon blue dye."

"What's that?" Warrick wanted to know.

"Chalk," Kady replied for Greg.

"Chalk doesn't have that," Warrick scoffed.

"I doubt it," Nick agreed with his best friend.

"Actually, Kady's right. It's pool cue chalk," Greg announced, causing Nick's and Warrick's jaws to drop, "Why do you guys look so surprised? Kady knew what it was the entire time. I can't believe you ever doubted her."

"Neither can I," Warrick confessed.

"Am I forgiven?" Nick asked Kady as he settled her on his hip. His response? A kiss on the cheek and a hug from Kady, which he happily returned, "I'll take that as a yes."

"What about me?" Warrick wanted to know, earning a kiss from Kady too, "Oh yeah! I'm forgiven!"

"But I knew she was right the entire time unlike you two," Greg poked his tongue out.

* * *

><p>"Banglor's shooting stick with the Phantom Driver...tosses a few back...piles into the rental...I-93, Hoover Dam. But don't drink and drive. You might spill your drink...car skids...bangs into the railing...se-saws...on the edge...what does the driver do? Man, he bails. He leaves Banglor in the back seat to take the fall. Literally. Fingerprints, grooves, footprints; all the bases are covered. Victim, suspect, crime scene. Like a laxative," Nick explained his theory before tossing the football to Warrick, "It works."<p>

Nick sits down and exales. Kady walks up to him with two poppas. Greatful, Nick pulls Kady into his lap and takes the orange juice, leaving Kady to have the apple and blackcurrent juice. Just like Nick did when he had the football, Warrick stood up and began pacing the break room as he explained his own theory,

"Banglor shooting stick – I'll give you that. Burping bourbons – I'll give you that, too. But he left solo. A few miles down the road, Bentley thief flags him down...spooks him into a skid...BOOM! CRASH! He's robbed...forced into the back...pushed over the edge. With Banglor out of the way, the thief gets in his stolen Bentley...hightails it out of there. No watch...no rings, no cash...stolen Bentley tire treads, Converse All-Star size 11...all baes covered. Victim, suspect, crime scene. Like a canary...it sings."

When he was done, he gently tossed the ball to Nick and Kady and sat across from them. Together, Nick and Kady caught the football. Nick started pondering.

"You know, I hate to admit it...but I like your theory. It does work," Nick confessed.

"I was sitting here thinking the same thing about your Phantom Driver," Warrick admitted.

"So, what do you think? Can two solid theories, each back by evidence, both be correct?" Nick asked as he tossed the football to Warrick.

"Got me," Warrick sighed, "Yo, Elmo! Which theory do you like the best? Mine or your daddy's?"

"I don't know," Kady confessed.

"You don't know?" Nick repeated in disbelief.

"Sowwy," Kady apologised.

"Hey, it's OK," Nick reassured her as he kissed her cheek...then blew a rhaspberry on her stomach, causing her to giggle.

"Well, there goes our tie-breaker," Warrick moaned as he played with the football a little and watched the father-daughter duo before him bond even more.

* * *

><p>Inside the photo lab, Grissom, Catherine and Sara are watching the security footage from the ATM. On the monitor, they could see some homeless guy (regularly called a bum) standing directly in front of the ATM. A second person nearby handed him the card and directed him into doing what he wanted.<p>

"There. There's our guy handing it off," Grissom pointed out before reading the cue cards, "Life...like holding a dove...hold it too hard..."

"...You kill it...," Catherine continued reading.

"...Hold it too soft...," Grissom went on.

"...And it'll fly away," Sara finished.

The guy contineud to flip the cue cards until he thought he was done with what he had to do. He began to walk away. But the man stopped him by pushing him in front of the camera to make him continue flipping the cue cards.

"Have we located this bum?" Catherine asked.

"Brass' guys are looking for him. OK...significance of the flipping?" Grissom questioned.

"He's obviously making a point," Catherine stated.

"What does the dove symbolize? Peace?" Sara guessed.

"But I don't think it's peace in terms of...human civility or unrest. I think maybe it's 'peace of mind.' What do you have to attain to have pace of mind?" Catherine asked before realizing, "Justice!"

"I'm going to keep doing this over and over again until I get Justice," Grissom recited.

* * *

><p>When Grissom entered the interview room inside the Las Vegas Police Department, he saw Brass sitting at the table across from...the bum from the ATM security footage! Way to go, Brass!<p>

"How you doing?" Brass asked.

"Hmm. How'd you find him?" Grissom wanted to know.

"We canvassed a square-mile radius of the ATM machine. Started throwing bums hamburgers out the car window in a nice tight spiral. They ratted him out in 20 minutes," Brass explained, "You want to tell him how you were approached?"

"You know, I think better when I eat," the bum told them slyly.

"No kidding?" Brass said.

"Jim, call the steak house at Circus. Get this fella a porterhouse," Grissom requested.

"How do you like it – medium rare? No, you look like a well-done kind of guy," Brass remarked as he picked up his phone.

"Rare," the bum corrected.

* * *

><p>Nick, Warrick and Kady are back in the hospital to have a word with Walter Banglor. Right now, they're still waiting for Dr Leever to give them the all-clear. Nick and Warrick sat side-by-side. Kady sat on the floor at Nick's feet with her colouring book. Warrick was constantly fiddling with something. An envelope. When Nick asked him about it, he didn't tell him anything. So Nick let it go...for now, anyways. At that moment, Dr Leever stepped out.<p>

"Two minutes. Understand?" Dr Leever asked.

"That's all we'll need," Nick reassured him as he scooped Kady in his arms and they walked into the room.

"Hey, hey. How are you feeling, Mr Banglor?" Nick questioned as they entered.

"Uh, better, I guess. Especially seeing a bright, beautiful young face like your daughter's there," Walter remarked as he pointed to Kady, "I understand last night was exciting, though."

"Yeah," Warrick agreed.

"I'm going to come right out and say it. What happened to you is not right. The person responsible needs to be brought to justice. You tell me who that person is. Who was driving that car?" Nick asked.

"Who the hell are you guys?" Walter demanded.

Warrick and Nick began saying each other's names at the same time. Realizing what was happening, they stopped and looked at each other. Quietly, they decided that Nick should introduce them.

"I'm Nick Stokes. This is Warrick Brown. And this is my daughter, Kady. We're with criminalistics. We've been working your accident," Nick explained.

"Actually, sir, I-I don't think it was an accident. I think you were robbed and any information that you remember about your attacker would be very helpful," Warrick told the man in the bed.

"I wasn't attacked," Walter announced, causing Warrick's face to fall, "I was drunk. Really drunk," Walter confessed, causing Nick's face to fall, "No way I should've been driving that car."

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Yeah! I guess that's enough to me," Walter sighed as he lost another game of pool._

"_Then it's time to pay up," one of his opponants announced._

_Walter looked into his wallet and realized that he didn't have enough money to pay him back. Nervously, he glanced at the pool player in front of him._

"_Looks like I'm a little short," Walter confessed._

"_Hit him, Take everything he's got," the pool player ordered his thug._

_The thug began beating up Walter and taking all his money, his watch and his ring._

_Later, Walter was driving home along the I-93 near the Hoover Dam. He's drinking and driving. Ooh. Big mistake, buddy. He's barely paying attention to the road stretching before him. In fact, he nearly dozed off. He would have when he heard a honk. He looked up and saw a truck heading towards him._

"_JEEZ!" he yelped as he swerved his car._

_Sadly, that is how he got in the current position his in. The car crashed through the railing and begins see-sawing at the edge of the cliff. In the hopes of balancing the car, Walter climbed into the back and buckled up. But sadly, that didn't work well. His screams could be heard as his car tumbled down the hillside.  
><em>_End flashback_

"You mean you got hustled?" Warrick summised.

"I won the first game!" Walter defended.

"You climbed into the back seat?" Nick asked in astonishment.

"All by yourself?" Kady added in equal astonishment.

"Sure did, sweetheart," Walter answered.

"So buckling up...really did save your life. You know that?" Warrick double-checked.

"Yeah. I guess it did," Walter agreed.

"You get well, OK?" Warrick told him.

"Glad we could help," Nick said.

"Bye," Kady waved before they walked away.

"Well, the only thing we didn't factor in was his will to live," Nick stated.

"And the Bentley thief, size 11 – he could've been at that crime scene anytime last week. So we push on the bet? No winner?" Warrick suggested.

"No loser," Nick agreed before his pager went off.

"406," Kady read.

"Burglar. Double or nothing?" Nick offered Warrick.

"You're talking to the wrong guy," Warrick smirked.

"Oh boy," Kady sighed.

"Oh. For you two," Warrick announced as he handed the envelope to Nick and Kady.

"This is for us?" Nick said as he placed Kady on his lap as they sat down.

"Yeah. Check it out," Warrick requested.

Nick and Kady just looked at each other and shrugged. Nick opened the envelope and emptied the contents into his hand. Or should I say CONTENT? What Nick and Kady are staring at is a framed photo. Inside the frame was a photo of Nick and Kady when they first got the case. This was taken after Nick tortued his daughter with tickles. As Kady lied on her back on the hospital floor catching her breath, Nick carefully hovered over her, kissing her forehead as he moved some of her soft curls out of his face. Sobs of joy got caught in Nick's throat.

"When did you?" Nick began asking.

"During my lunch break when I was not looking for an attacker that was never there. The moment was too cute to forget. So I took a photo. This picture speaks a thousand words. Actually, a MILLION words. It speaks of a CSI who has a daughter who absolutely adores him and he loves more than anything in the world. Magic literally flies off that photo just like your relationship is magical. Something that will never die. No matter what happens," Warrick explained.

"Thank you, Cookie Monster," Kady thanked.

"Anytime, Elmo. Anythime," Warrick replied.

* * *

><p>"Can we start again, please?" Brass kindly requested as the bum finished his delicious meal.<p>

"Now, how did this man approach you?" Grissom asked again.

"He walked up to me. Told me he'd give me a hundred bucks if I flip some cards," he answered.

"He pay you cash?" Brass pressed.

"Mm-hmm. A hundred-dollar bill," he nodded.

"You still have it?" Grissom asked, getting no answer, "How tall was this man? Was he...shorter or taller than Mr Brass here?" That made Brass stand up straight.

"A hair taller," the bum estimated.

"By a hair, do you mean the hair of a rabbit or the hair of a grizzly bear?" Grissom questioned.

"Somewhere in the middle," the bum answered.

"OK. Let's say he was five-ten," Grissom suggested, "What else do you remember about this man?"

"He had a narrow chin. Uh...his eyes were blue – deep-sea blue, you know? Uh, jet-black hair. Uh, Spock-like ears. Pointed nose, bushy eyebrows, sunken cheeks with a bad complexion, almost pock-faced. Uh...thin as a soda cracker and his clothes were wrinkled, like, uh, he slept in them. Oh...and when he spoke, he spoke with a...," the bum began describing a certain someone.

"Stutter?" Grissom offered.

"Yeah," the bum agreed.

"Paul Millander! He set me up," Grissom realized angrily as he rose to his feet, "Son of a bitch! I had him and I let him go!"

"_You ever make any rubber hands?_"

"_I sold ten thousand of those units last Halloween. Even used my own hand for the mold._"

* * *

><p>"So when I picked up the hand, he must have lifted my print, Catherine," Grissom explained his findings to Catherine, Sara and Brass.<p>

"Latex rubber surface, freshly dried paint, a snip of scotch tape," Catherine began listing objects.

"It wouldn't be that hard to lift and replant," Sara finished for Catherine.

"Sara, we'll be on headsets. Run everything you can on Paul Millander. Use forenz-I, use nexus; search anything and everything," Grissom instructed Sara.

"I'll call the brigade," Brass announced.

* * *

><p>While Grissom, Catherine, Brass and dozens of police officers were in a vehicle racing towards Halloweird, Sara was back at the lab in the research room with a computer obeying Grissom's instructions.<p>

"Typing in search word: Paul Millander...here it is! Paul Millander. _Age 42, five-eleven, male caucasian. Address not on file. No criminal record._"

"Keep looking. Listen, check the business database. Search word: 'Halloweird'," Grissom requested.

Sara did the search. Only to realize...

"There's no listing, Grissom."

"How can that be? I was just there!" Grissom exclaimed in pure disbelief.

"_Change databases. Newspaper index, periodicals index – just keep trying._"

The heartbeats that followed Catherine's request seemed like they were drawling. Their minds were racing with their beating hearts. Cold sweat was beginning to form on their foreheads and exposed skin. This is the one of the most intense moments in their lives...

"_I got something out of the newspaper index!_"

"What is it?" Grissom demanded.

"Two hotel security guards exonerated in alleged 'staged' suicide. Boy's testimony shaky. Paul Millander, age ten, testified that he watched in the closet while his father, John, was escorted by two hotel security guards into his own bathtub at gunpoint where he was found shot to death. Official cause of death was ruled...," Sara began reading.

"Suicide," Grissom finished in realization, "_Check the date._"

Sara ran the search Grissom wanted and found something startling.

"Catherine, you were right. August 17, 1959. It's a pattern!" Sara gasped.

"So he was killing men who were born on the same day that his father died," Catherine realized.

The police vehicle slowed to a stop. Immediately, the officers who were suited up exited the back of the van. Additional police officers began arriving at the Halloweird warehouse. Brass was one of them. He stepped out of his car with his gun drawn ready to go. When all the officers had climbed out of the van, Catherine and Grissom stuck their heads out so they could see what was happening. They watched as the officers broke down the warehouse door. However, when the officers did their search, they found nothing. The warehouse is empty. Completely empty. Everything was gone. Empty.

"All clear," the officer said.

Brass, Catherine and Grissom walked into the empty warehouse. All three of them are disappointed. There's no point denying that. When they walked in, they saw a single stool with an envelope on it just sitting there in the centre of the whole warehouse. Immediately, Grissom grabbed a pair of latex gloves and grabbed the envelope. He examined it a little bit before opening it. Inside was a sheet of paper that's like the warehouse: bare.

"Blank. What's that mean?" Catherine asked.

"We have nothing," Grissom answered her.

* * *

><p>"Mr Grissom in?" Paul asked as he walked up to the receptionist at CSI, causing her to look up from her computer.<p>

"No. He's out on assignment. Do you want to leave him a message?" she asked him.

"No. Just tell him a friend stopped by," Paul requested.

"A friend?" the receptionist repeated.

"A friend. He'll know," Paul reassured her before waving to the security camera in the corner and walking out.

* * *

><p><strong>And things are only going to get more interesting here on in, ladies and gentlemen.<strong>

**Wait! My extra scene! I almost forgot about that! Well, you won't be hearing from me at the end of the chapter, so I'm gonna go through everything now.**

**Next chapter: Unfriendly Skies  
><strong>**Followed by: Sex, Lies and Larvae  
><strong>**Then: I-15 Murders  
><strong>**Later: Fahrenheit 932  
><strong>**After that: Boom**

**Things that must be done:**

**Review  
><strong>**Alert  
><strong>**Fave**

**Last two are optional. So is the review...for those who wish to flame. Nobody's perfect. And it's almost impossible to write a perfect story. While people can do it, others struggle. No offence. All that matters is you give it a go. That alone is worth more than a million gold reviews. Stop trying to be perfect all the time. Then you lose track of what's really important.**

**This extra scene is really touching for me. I heard the song featured in this chapter today and I thought that the song suited Nick and Kady's relationship perfectly. Especially with everything that the two are going to go through together in the future.**

**So now I must bid you adieu so you can go on and read.**

**Despedida (Spanish)  
><strong>**Arrivederci (Italian)  
><strong>**Farvel (Norwegian)  
><strong>**Adeus (Galician)  
><strong>**Afscheid (Dutch)  
><strong>**Au Revoir (French)  
><strong>**Vale (Latin)  
><strong>**Adjo (Swedish)  
><strong>**Gule Gule (Turkish)  
><strong>**Adeus (Portuguese)  
><strong>**Selamat Tinggal (Malay)**

**So many ways to say that one word. One meaning. One word:**

**Goodbye.**

* * *

><p>Nick sat there in the break room with the framed photo Warrick gave him at the hospital. The more he started at the photo, the more he fell in love with it. Nothing but pure love was potrayed. He felt his heart soar higher than an eagle. All the pain of his past slowly began to disappear. Nothing but happiness filled the gaps the pain left behind.<p>

He glanced at Kady who was sitting there innocently colouring. A proud, watery smile tugged the corners of his lips. Out of all the things he had in life to be proud of, Kady was at the top of the charts. Out of all the gifts he had received, Kady topped them all. All of his best memories are filled with Kady now. Basically, out of everything in his life, Kady was the best thing ever. Immediately, he knew he wouldn't regret becoming a father when he went to Abby's first sonogram. After seeing the little joy they were creating, he knew that becoming a father was going to be special. It was going to be the best ride of his life. One he didn't want to miss.

Sure they wanted children. But they had never planned on WHEN they were having children. Kady wasn't planned. But she wasn't an accident. Or a mistake. Or engineered. She was perfect. She arrived at the perfect time when they were longing for one. She graced his life in a time of sadness. He lit up his world a thousand times better. She's the brightest star in his night sky. She's his sunshine in the day. She's his light at the end of the tunnel. She's the water in his ocean. She's the air he breaths. Kadelin Taylor Stokes is Nick Stokes' everything.

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh…_

When he heard the intro and the vocalising of Bette Midler of the famous song, Wind Beneath My Wings, he got an idea. He stood up and turned the radio up to full volume, gaining the attention of his teammates, Mandy, Greg, Brass and a female police officer he worked with multiple times. They watched as Nick walked up to Kady and tapped her shoulder. When she looked up at him, he smiled at her. She smiled back and he scooped her in his arms. With one hand, he held her smaller and petite hand in his much larger and muscular hand with his free hand held her up by her small waist. They watched as he began waltzing around the break room with her in his arms, keeping perfect time and flowing around smoothly.

_It must have been cold there in my shadow,  
><em>_To never have sunlight on your face.  
><em>_You were content to let me shine. That's your way.  
><em>_You always walked a step behind._

"Dance with me," Grissom suddenly requested Sara.

"What?" Sara stuttered in shock.

"Dance with me," Grissom repeated.

"Yes," she answered without thinking about it.

Smiling, Grissom guided Sara to the little 'dancefloor' that was being created in the break room. Warrick and Catherine smiled as they watched Grissom take Sara's hand and place his free one on her waist. Sara placed her free hand on his shoulder and together, they danced around the break room with Nick and Kady.

"Catherine Willows, may I have this dance?" Warrick asked Catherine with a formal bow.

"Smooth, Warrick Brown," Catherine commented, "Yes."

Like Grissom did with Sara, Warrick guided Sara to the 'dancefloor' and started dancing with her.

_So I was the one with all the glory,  
><em>_While you were the one with all the strain.  
><em>_A beautiful face without a name for so long.  
><em>_A beautiful smile to hide the pain._

"Shall we dance, Mandy?" Greg smiled.

"Yes we shall," Mandy nodded as they followed Nick and Kady, Grissom and Sara and Warrick and Catherine.

"Will you dance with me?" Brass asked his female partner.

"I will," she nodded before they joined the others.

_Did you ever know that you're my hero?  
>And everything I would like to be?<br>__I can fly higher than an eagle.  
><em>_Because you are the wind beneath my wings._

"Gil," Sara started, causing Grissom to look directly at her, "Thank you. For bringing me here. For teaching me what I know. Thank you…for everything."

"Nothing can bring you happiness but yourself," Grissom recited.

"Ralph Waldo Emerson," Sara realised.

"Very good," Grissom complimented.

"Thank you for asking me to dance, Greg. I haven't felt this happy in a long time," Mandy confessed to her impromtu dance partner.

"The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment," Greg sighed, "Doug Larson."

_It might have appeared to go unnoticed.  
><em>_But I've got it all here in my heart.  
><em>_I want you to know I know the truth. Of course I know it.  
><em>_I would be nothing without you._

"Thank you for this, Warrick. I needed this. Eddie never does anything romantic. Not even when we were married," Catherine said with bitterness.

"Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it," Warrick quoted.

"Since when do you know Fyodor Dostoevsky?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Since I started working for Grissom and he kept on saying all these quotes," Warrick answered.

"Happiness is like a Swedish sunset. It is there for all. But most of us look the other way and lose it. Mark Twain," Brass recalled with a sigh.

_Did you ever know that you're my hero?  
><em>_You're everything I wish I could be.  
><em>_I could fly higher than an eagle.  
><em>_With you as the wind beneath my wings._

Kady let go of Nick's hand and wrapped both of her tiny arms around his neck and kissed his cheek before snuggling into the crook of his neck. Nick smiled happily to himself and wrapped both his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. The women snuggled into their dance partners as they continued their little waltz. People walked by and saw them dance. They didn't care who saw them. They didn't care what happened. They're too caught up in the moment. They're the happiness they've ever been in forever. And to them, that's all that mattered.

_Did I ever tell you you're my hero?  
><em>_You're everything, everything I wish I could be.  
><em>_Oh, and I, I could fly higher than an eagle,  
><em>_Because you are the wind beneath my wings.  
><em>_Because you are the wind beneath my wings…_

"Kady, honey, there's something I want you to remember," Nick began gently, "Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."

_Oh, the wind beneath my wings.  
><em>_You, you, you, you are the wind beneath my wings.  
><em>_Fly, fly, fly away. You let me fly so high.  
><em>_Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings.  
><em>_Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings._

"I love you, daddy," Kady whispered delicately in Nick's ear.

"I love you too, butterly," Nick murmured back just as delicately.

Over this, the audience would hear Grissom's voice say the following:

"**Life has its ups and downs. The dark defeats the light. Harsh reality crushes beautiful dreams. The head overrules the heart. Everything seems to slip away; even happiness.**"

_Fly, fly, fly high against the sky.  
><em>_So high, I almost touch the sky.  
><em>_Thank you, thank you.  
><em>_Thank God for you…_

"'**Don't rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can't love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are – completely; the good and the bad – and make changes as YOU see fit – not because you think someone else wants you to be different…' Stacey Charter…**"

_The wind beneath my wings…_


	10. Unfriendly Skies

**Unfriendly Skies: On a flight en route to Las Vegas from Atlanta, a first class passenger is killed. Brass, Grissom and his Graveyard shift are called in. But they find their time limit short when the sherif announces they have 12 hours to solve the case before the FBI takes over their investigation. The victim's fellow passengers are reluctant to cooperate, causing the team to suspect their involvement in his death.**

**Next, Sex, Lies and Larvae: A body covered in insects is found in the desert, causing Grissom and Sara to launch an investigation. With help from the entomological evidence, Grissom discovers the time of death. Unfortunately, the husband – who is also the prime suspect – claims to be out of town around time of death and appears to be getting away with his wife's murder, much to Sara's dismay. Meanwhile, Warrick and Catherine work the case of a house call where a valuable painting is stolen. In another case, a woman's car is found at the bus station with the driver missing, forcing Nick to launch a missing persons case.**

**Then, I-15 Murders: A middle-aged woman is abducted from a local supermarket. When inspecting the bathroom, Grissom finds a message on a stall door that makes him suspect that this has happened before. Despite their personal differences, Warrick and Sara have to work together when an apparent robbery goes wrong and a man finds his brother murdered in his apartment. Meanwhile, Kristy Hopkins (from the pilot episode) finds herself in trouble again after getting into a beef with a hotel security guard and she calls on Nick to rescue her.**

**Later, Fahrenheit 932: A man is awaiting trail for starting an arson fire that killed his wife and son. Claiming he is innocent, he calls on Grissom to help him. Now it is up to Grissom, Sara and Warrick to clear him, especially when they learn that Day Shift supervisor Conrad Ecklie did sloppy work. In another investigation, a teenage 'runner' is shot to death at close range and Nick and Catherine have to figure out who killed him and what circumstances had lead to his death.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Boom  
><strong>**To Halve and to Hold  
><strong>**Table Stakes  
><strong>**Too Tough to Die  
><strong>**Face Lift  
><strong>**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler (Season 1 finale)**

**REVIEW REPLIES!**

**caitlin: **_**Another great chapter!**_

_**Cant wait for Boom!**_

_**xx**_

**Thanks for the review, Caitlin! I can't wait to write Boom myself. Thankfully, after this episode, I have Sex, Lies and Larvae, I-15 Murders and Fahrenheit 932 before I can actually write it. I'm so excited to write some Nick and Kady moments for that. You wanna suggest some?**

**stargirl276: **_**I read the ending scene and listened to the song and I cried it was amazing! Well done can't wait for more :D**_

**Wow. I was hoping that I wrote a touching chapter. Honestly, I didn't expect to make anyone cry. But it tells me that I'm doing something good in this. I'm appealing to my reader's emotions. Thanks for the review!**

**I own nothing aside from sweet little Kady. This episode will have some funny moments. This is actually one of my favourites. Have I ever mentioned that I love Nick and Warrick?**

**ENJOY! (Wow. There goes a page and a half on the opening author's note. Oh well. That's that.)**

* * *

><p>"<em>McCarren approach Las Vegas nine-zero-nine, thirty thousand. Request emergency personnel. Over.<em>"

"_Las Vegas nine-zero-nine, McCarren tower. Specify request. Over._"

"_Negative, McCarren. Advise on runway._"

"_Las Vegas nine-zero-nine cleared for V-O-R runway one-five approach. Over._"

"_V-O-R runway one-five approach. Roger. Request Las Vegas police._"

"_Understand. Police. Roger._"

"MUMMY!"

* * *

><p>Something really bad happened on that plane. Bad enough for police and emergency personnel to surround the plane. The lead investigator in this case is none other than Jim Brass himself.<p>

"The luggage stays on the plane. We're going to treat this like a crime scene until we're told otherwise. Tim, Sam, talk to the coach passengers. See what you can't learn," Brass instructed before he noticed Grissom approach him, "Alright, look. I'm going to talk to the first class passengers – they're in the lounge. Let's meet back there in a half an hour, alright?"

"Alright," Officer Tim nodded before him and Sam left.

"So...dead guy in first class?" Grissom asked.

"Las Vegas Air. Always heard it was a good time," Brass remarked.

* * *

><p>As soon as Brass and Grissom walked onto the plane, Brass couldn't help but clear his throat. Lying in the aisleway of first class is the dead body everybody was going crazy over moments before.<p>

"Coroner pronounce?" Grissom questioned.

"About thirty minutes ago," Brass answered.

"Eyewitnesses?" Grissom pressed.

"Everyone in first class – nine passengers, one flight attendant," Brass responded.

"Where are they now?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Sequestered in the lounge. According to the Flight crew, the deceased had some sort of panic attack and died before they landed," Brass explained.

Grissom knelt down. He didn't fail to notice the mess in the aisle above the body. He also then began to examine the dead body. Moments later, Grissom was looking around the place and taking photos.

"Point of disturbance: cockpit door. Bloody handprint. Looks like foot impression. Ballpark shoe size...ten to eleven maybe," Grisom estimated.

"Deceased found lying between rows one and two," Brass added, causing Grissom to snap photos...before finding a disk on the floor, "What is that? Blood?"

* * *

><p>"I want this whole plane taped off. Nose to tail and wing to wing," Grissom requested as he and Brass left the plane.<p>

"Oh, it's going to take a lot of tape," Brass couldn't help but remark.

"I've got a dead body, a crime scene with wings. Something very wrong happened in this plane," Grissom retorted.

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Gary Dourdan  
>George Eads<br>Jorja Fox  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

Grissom had his hands in his pockets as he walked along the tarmac at the airport. Suddenly, a car pulled up. The flashes of the siren managed to attract Grissom's attention. When Grissom turned around, the occupant of the car climbed out. And it was none other than...

"Sheriff?" Grissom said in surprise.

"We've got a whale of an opportunity here, Gil. Dead body on an airplane – FAA has jurisdiction. But the Feds won't be here till sunrise. That gives us about twelve hours to be heroes," Brian told him.

"I don't follow you," Grissom confessed.

"Well, we either hand over the guy who did it when the Feds get here or we give them all the glory while we watch from the sidelines," Brian cleared up.

"I don't even know if we have a homicide yet. First reports indicate he had some kind of episode," Grissom shrugged.

"Give me a little credit. Even you wouldn't tape off one of these wide-bodies unless you knew you had something. Arrest would be good for you. It would be good for me, too. Good for Las Vegas," Brian stated.

"...You running for mayor?" Grissom asked.

* * *

><p>Now the entire CSI gang has arrived at the scene. While Nick worked his area, Kady was sitting on one of the first class seats with a blanket so she didn't unintentionall contaminate evidence. Everyone had the same question on their minds: what in God's name lead to this man's sudden death?<p>

Nick sighed before asking, "What about the passengers in coach? They see anything?"

"Brass said the curtain was shut. The Flight Attendant kept them separated. They disembarked through the rear," Sara explained.

"What do we know about the dead guy?" Warrick questioned.

"Tony Candlewell. Age 30. Communication Company Manager from Atlanta. Married. No record," Catherine answered.

"So? What do you think?" Grissom quizzed as he walked onto the plane.

"I don't know. But this sure must have looked scary at thirty thousand feet," Catherine remarked.

"All this damage by one guy? Had to be on drugs," Warrick said.

"Too much damage for one guy," Sara shook her head.

"So, more than one guy?" Nick summised before turning to Grissom playing with Kady, "What do you think, Griss?"

"Hmm? Oh. I think we got ten witnesses all singing the same song. Deceased went baserk. Unless we find something else in the evidence, that's what happened. Catherine...," Grissom started.

"I'll start the interviews," Catherine finished for Grissom.

"Thank you. Warrick, go with," Grissom instructed.

"Yeah," Warrick nodded.

"Brass has them all assembled in the lounge. Assume there's evidence on everyone. Nick, go with the coroner. Sara and I will work the plane. I know how you feel about Kady going to the morgue. So we'll look after her until either you, Catherine, Warrick or Brass get back," Grissom promised.

"Thanks, man," Nick sighed in relief as he kissed and hugged his young daughter, "See you later, butterfly."

"Bye, daddy," Kady waved as Nick left the plane.

"This is a mobile crime scene. It might now be here tomorrow," Grissom announced.

* * *

><p>Inside the airport lounge, the first class passengers sit and wait impatiently. All they wanted to do was get out of there, enjoy their holiday in Vegas and keep what happened on the plane a secret. That's all they want. Is that too much to ask? Actually, the last part of that sentence is. Suddenly, one of the passengers, Kiera Berhle, stands up and catches the attention of the flight attendant, Shannon.<p>

"Miss, my daughter has to go to the bathroom," Kiera told her.

"OK. I'll see what I can do," Shannon reassured her.

"Thank you," Kiera thanked in relief.

As she sat down, Shannon went off to find somebody to talk to about letting little Emily Berhle go to the bathroom for a couple of minutes. As she walked by, Vicki Mercer grabbed her arm and attention all at the same time.

"How are you holding up?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm still shaking," Shannon confessed, earning a reassuring smile from Vicki.

"Can I have your attention?" Brass requested as he, Catherine and Warrick walked inside, "I'm Jim Brass from homicide. This is Catherine Willows and Warrick Brown from Las vegas Criminalistics. They're here to gather evidence."

"You know you can't keep us here!" Lou Everett called out.

"Sir, we realize this is an imposition and we apologize for it. Nobody wants to see you on your way more than we do. We'll make this as quick and painless as we possibly can," Catherine promised in a calm and reassuring voice.

No one seemed to be objecting. So Warrick and Catherine turned around so they could work.

"Nice snow job," Warrick whispered to her.

"More flies with honey," Catherine remarked.

* * *

><p>As Sara examined the body, she removed his wallet from his jacket and found the driver's license. It was a Georgia Driver's License. Well, no surprise. The plane was en route to Las Vegas from Atlanta. His license had all his personal information. License number, expiration date, address, birthdate, height, weight; literally everything about him. When she stood up, David was walking up behind her.<p>

"Driver's license...library card...organ donor card," Sara listed the cards in his wallet.

"Stand-up guy," David said.

Sara than found a photo in his wallet, something that made her heart break over this case, "He has a family."

"Can you imagine getting that phone call? What a shame," David remarked.

"David, it's always a shame," Kady retorted.

"When did she get so smart?" David suddenly asked Sara.

"She's the daughter of two CSIs," Sara reminded David, "Why are you so surprised?"

* * *

><p>"I saw him board. He seemed like an OK guy," Co-Captain Arrington told Grissom.<p>

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Here. Let me help you with that," Tony offered as he helped Kiera place her bags in the overhead storage._

"_Oh, thank you. Thank you very much," she thanked in relief._

_"Sure. No problem," Tony replied.  
><em>_End flashback_

"When did you become aware that there was a problem in the cabin?" Grissom questioned.

"1630 hours. About 35 minutes out. Shannon asked one of us to come out and address an issue with a passenger," Arrington recalled.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_What's the problem, Shannon?" Captain Murdle asked._

_Back in the cabin was a whole lot of commotion happening. Tony was irritated as he tried to open the lavatory door...one that is occupied._

"_Come on! Hello! Other people have to go to!" Tony shouted._

"_Do me a favour: go back to coach. Make sure no one comes forward. Thanks," Shannon instructed the other flight attendant._

"_Come on! It's been 10 minutes!" Tony whined._

_"Sir, is there some way we can assist you?" Murdle asked him._

"_Yeah. You can help me open this door," Tony responded._

"_There are two other restrooms towards the rear of the plane," Murdle reminded him._

"_I paid $1200 to pee here, not in coach," Tony retorted._

"_Sir? You need to take your seat," Murdle said to him.  
><em>_End flashback_

"How much time did you spend with him?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Two minutes," Murdle answered.

"In that time, did you notice anything that would explain his behavior?" Grissom pressed, causing Murdle to shake his head, "Was he drunk maybe? Or on drugs?"

"Not as far as I could tell. A little agitated. It's not like I haven't seen this kind of behavior before. Flying just makes people react in funny ways," Murdle shrugged.

* * *

><p>"Is that a meat thermometer?" Nick asked as he watched Jenna stick a thermometer in the guy.<p>

"Digital readout. Bigger numbers," Jenna explained before the thermometer beeped, "98.1."

"Guy should be colder than that. Body temperature drops two degrees in the first hur after death than one and a half degrees for each successive hour," Nick recalled.

"Well, he's been dead for two hours," Jenna reminded him.

"That would make his temperature at the time of death...101.6," Nick realized, "This guy had a fever."

"Let's see what else we got," Jenna said as she began examining the body, "Petecchial hemorrhaging behind the eyes. Suggesting suffocation of some sort. Horseshoe-shaped contusion on the left side of the neck."

"Looks like the heel of a boot," Nick remarked.

"Oh, I'll buy that – for now. Multiple contusions front and back. Broken hand," Jenna continued.

'Well, this guy's a study of contradictions," Nick whistled before looking at Tony's right hand, "He's got defensive wounds on his palms but the scrapes on his knuckles and the broken hand indicate aggression."

"Let me guess: you still think that Kady's too young to come down here so you left her at the crime scene with Grissom?" Jenna guessed.

"My daughter is three years old. She sees enough at crime scenes. I don't her seeing someone cutting up a dead body and examining its insides," Nick defended.

"There are some occassions where a crime scene is worse than the morgue, you know," Jenna retorted.

* * *

><p>Right now on the plane, Grissom was taking a roll call to see who was sitting where. As he read out the names, Sara and Kady walked to the seat and placed an orange cone with their names on tape on the appropiate seat.<p>

"Dr Kiera Behrle, 3E. Emily Behrle, 3F. Nate Metz, 2C," Grissom read as he placed a hand on the chair...causing it to fall backwards, "Nate Metz."

"Put your seat back and tray table in their upright position. I don't think so," Sara smirked.

"Let me guess who was sitting in 3C," Grissom pondered aloud as he read the flight list, "Tony Candlewell. The dead guy."

* * *

><p>"Look. The guy was a real ass," Nate Metz himself told Catherine and Brass as they interviewed him.<p>

"In what way?" Brass pressed.

"You know why I fly first class? Other than the fact that my company pays for it? Because I can work. I have to work," Nate answered the unasked question.

"And he wouldn't let you?" Catherine guessed.

"No. He, he, he kept kicking the back of my seat with his foot. You know, like in a movie theater when somebody's kicking your seat? Imagine that all the way from Atlanta to Las Vegas," Nate explained.

"Are you telling me this guy was kicking the back of your seat the entire flight?" Catherine asked.

"Maybe not the entire flight. You know, like, like Dallas to, to Las Vegas," Nate corrected. **(Me: Hey! Nick: What? Me: They went over Dallas! Nick: So? Me: You don't remember where you were born? Nick: I'm from Austin, not Dallas. Me: You were born in Dallas. You grew up in Austin. And Austin isn't that far from Dallas. *sighs* For a CSI, you don't know your geography that well. Nick: How do you know that? Me: What? You think I got that A in Geography by copying someone else's work? No. I did not. I work very hard for the grades I get.)**

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Nate is working on his laptop for his company when he felt his seatback jostle. Nate shrugged it off at first and just pushed on his seat, causing it to fall back a little bit. Well...until the seat jostled again._

_"Hey, pal! Could you please stop kicking the back of my seat?" Nate pleaded._

_"I wasn't doing anything!" Tony defended._

"_You know exactly what you're doing. Stop it," Nate requested before resuming his work.  
><em>_End flashback_

"What did you do?" Brass wanted to know.

"I just...I ignored him. You know, I punched the seat a couple of times in anger and that's it," Nate answered before looking at Catherine, "Look, the guy set me off. It was either the seat or him."

"May I see your hands?" Catherine requested.

Nate held out his hands in a loose fist with his knuckles facing upwards. Something that Catherine and Brass immediately noticed was the fact that his right knuckles are red and skinned. One of the signs of defensive wounds. Is there something the guy isn't telling them?

"Your knuckles are pretty banged up," Brass pointed out.

* * *

><p>Sara, Grissom and Kady are looking at the seats for any new evidence. With her kid latex gloves on, Kady moved one of the seatbelts in 4B and found something interesting. Even though she's three years old, she knows exactly what it was.<p>

"Uncle Gil! Aunty Sara! I found blood!" Kady called out, causing Grissom and Sara to run towards her in a flash.

"Blood drops...away from the main event," Grissom stated before taking a swab sample, "Good eye, Kadelin. Good eye."

"Maybe that's where the action started," Sara suggested with a shrug as she pulled Kady into her arms.

"Could just be a bloody nose," Grissom reminded her.

"Wait. Who was sitting in 4B?" Kady asked her godfather.

"Lou Everett," Grissom read the cone.

* * *

><p>YUM! OREOS! Oh, the goodness of an Oreo cookie. The joy of twisting the biscuits, licking the side with the cream on it, dunking it in a nice up of cold milk and then eating it all up. Mmmm... Heaven... Well, Lou Everett is in front of the candy machine trying to buy a packet of Oreo cookies. But the candy machine decided not to be very kind. When he gave the machine his money and pushed the button, the packet gets stuck.<p>

"Lou Everett?" Brass said.

"Yeah," Lou sighed as he slammed his hands flat against the machine.

"How'd you get that slice around the chops?" Brass asked.

"The guy swung at me with a C.D. Put his finger in the hole and slashed me," Lou answered.

"What guy?" Warrick pressed.

"That crazy guy – the psycho. He was out of his mind!" Lou exclaimed.

_Begin flashback.  
><em>_Tony still had his foot on the back of Nate's seat. Once again, he pushed the seat forward. That move caused Nate to jerk forward into his laptop, which in turn, crashed to the floor in the aisle._

_Angrily, Nate stood up and faced Tony, "What the hell is wrong with you? You know, you owe me another laptop, pal!"_

_Still angry, Nate picked up his busted laptop from the floor and shoved it into Tony's chest. Grumbling, Tony stood up._

"_Move over!" he mumbled as he pushed the laptop – and Nate – aside. Sensing that there could be a fight, Shannon and Lou tried to break it up before it had the chance to escalate into one._

"_Hey!" Shannon yelled._

"_Hey, hey. We're in mid-flight, guys. That's enough," Lou said._

_Tony grabbed the CD on his armrest. With his finger in the hole, he stood up and swung it at Lou Everett. The edge of the CD sliced Lou in the face. Screaming in pain, Lou hit his seat, spilling his drink in the process.  
><em>_End flashback_

"So what do you think? Bodily injury. Can I sure a dead man?" Lou inquired.

"I think you need some coffee," Brass remarked.

"What do you mean?" Lou demanded.

"A few cocktails on the plane, Lou?" Brass asked.

"Look, I get nervous when I fly. So what?" Luo sighed.

"Well, alcohol does different things to different people...at different altitudes," Warrick stated.

"Hey. I was fine. He went bananas. Why don't you just ask...ask the Flight Attendant?" Lou suggested.

* * *

><p>"So, we were about 35 minutes out...when he started pressing his call button over and over. He was complaining of a headache," Shannon recalled.<p>

"And did you give him anything?" Catherine questioned.

"Yeah. I gave him a packet of asprin and he popped it dry. No water," Shannon answered.

"And as far as you know, did he complain of a headache when he boarded?" Catherine quizzed.

"No," Shannon shook her head.

"So what made the worm turn?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Look, I've been flying for ten years. You know, I have seen it all. I've seen ferrets in suitcases, uh, fellatio in first class...passengers stir-frying on their tray tables. I am...who knows why anyone does anything?" Shannon retorted.

Grissom walked up to the conference room Brass and Catherine are interviewing Shannon in. Not wanting to disturb the interview, he lingered outside. Catherine eventually noticed him.

"Right. Well, thank you for your time," Catherine thanked.

"Thank you," Shannon returned before she and Brass walked away.

"So, any bites?" Grissom asked as he walked inside.

"Nada. You?" Catherine responded as she set up her things on the desk and started jotting down some notes.

"If nothing criminal happened on that flight...why isn't anybody talking to us?" Grissom pondered aloud.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here...and say...they're hiding something?" Catherine shrugged.

"Then we get to play hide-and-seek," Grissom smirked.

* * *

><p>"I just got off the phone with Nick. The coroner did some carving on our dead guy. She found intercranial bleeding, thoracic hemorrhaging, a ruptured spleen and, for what it's worth, the guy also had a fever," Grissom explained to Sara as she went though a seat pocket, "You find something interesting?"<p>

"Well, the guy in 4B was knocking them back pretty good," Sara remarked.

Grissom thought about something for a moment. Then he went back to seat $B, slides on a pair of latex gloves and holds up three little bottles from the front seat pocket. Sara and Kady continued their little search together. Then Kady found something. A large broken bottle in the front seat. She went to touch it, but Sara pulled Kady to her chest and stopped her actions. Instead, she picked up the broken bottle herself.

"Could be dried blood!" Sara announced.

Grissom placed the little bottles he had before down and headed towards Sara and Kady. When he looked at the bottle part himself, he noticed the dry red substance on the edge of the green glass.

"Victim had defensive wounds on his hand," Grissom recalled.

"Marlene Valdez was sitting in 2E," Sara read the cone.

* * *

><p>"Look at me. My blouse is ruined," Marlene Valdez moaned as she sat down, "Just hope it washes out."<p>

"We'll get you a new one," Max Valdez promised his wife.

"After I saved your life, you better," Marlene retorted.

"Mr Valdez, was your life in danger?" Brass asked.

"Well, you know...," Max started explaining.

"Of course his life was in danger!" Marlene interrupted, "That maniac was pacing up and down the aisles...all sweaty...his eyes glazed. I was sure he was going to hijack that plane."

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Shannon is desperately trying to restore order in the chaotic first class cabin. Tony sunddely stood up in his seat._

"_Everyone needs to return to their seats," Shannon said._

"_Get out of the way!" Tony ordered as he pushed her aside and headed to the front of the cabin before knocking on the door._

"_Do something," Marlene whispered to her husband._

"_We should just mind our own business," Max shrugged it off._

"_Well, if you don't do something, I will," Marlene threatened with urgency._

_Tony is looking out the front door window. Bravely, Max stood up and began approaching Tony._

_"Uh...ex-excuse me, sir. Uh...who don't you just take a seat?" Max suggested nervously._

_Tony's response? He placed his hand over Max's face and pushed him backwards, causing Max to fall into the beverage cart behind him.  
><em>_End flashback_

"The other half of the wine bottle...from 2E. So...Marlene in 2E slashes the victim. He's bleeding. Where does he go?" Grissom asked, looking at Sara.

"The lavatory," Sara answered.

* * *

><p>Together, Sara, Grissom and Kady headed towards the front lavatory. Grissom pushed the lavatory door opened and looked inside. Sara is peering over his shoulder and Kady was looking at the seemingly clean bathroom from her position next to Grissom's knee.<p>

"No evidence," Sara stated.

"No 'patent' evidence. But if there's blood present, there may be latent evidence," Grissom stated.

"One step ahead of you, every so often," Sara smirked as she handed Grissom the ALS.

"Thank you," Grissom thanked before he started checking the lavatory, "Well. Would you hand me the Christopher Columbus from my field kit? Thank you."

Kady handed Grissom the Christopher Columbus he wanted. With the Christopher Columbus, Grissom checked the tolet bowl. There, he found a source of protein. But it's not what you think it is...

"I take it that's not blood," Sara said.

"No...but there's protein in it. Kady, earmuffs," Grissom requested, causing Kady to block her ears and sing softly to herself.

"Oh, the mile-high club. That means the two passengers may have had no idea what was going on inside that cabin," Sara realized.

"You know, high altitude enhances the entire sexual experience. It increases the euphoria," Grissom stated.

"Well...it's good. I don't know if it's that good," Sara pondered, causing Grissom to look at her, "Cite your source."

"Hand me a swab, please," Grissom requested kindly.

"You're avoiding the question. 'Enhances sexual experience. Increases euphoria.' Cite your source," Sara pleaded.

"A magazine," Grissom answered.

"What magazine?" Sara demanded.

"Applied Psychodynamics in Forensic Science," Grissom recited.

"Never heard of it," Sara srugged.

"I'll get you a subscription," Grissom promised, "Now, cite your source."

"Oh...now you wanna go down that route?" Sara asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Grissom nodded.

"Nah. Nevermind," Sara shook her head with a smile.

"You started it," Grissom retorted.

"Delta Airlines. Flight 1109. Boston-Miami. March '93. Ken Fuller. Hazel eyes that are nowhere near as beautiful as Kady's. Organich Chem Lab TA, BMOC...overrated...in...every aspect," Sara recalled, causing Grissom to look at her with that expression, "Could...we...get back to work, please?"

"Yeah. I think, due to your, uh...firsthand knowledge and experience in airplane bathrooms, you should do the swab," Grissom smirked before whisking Kady away.

"Fine," Sara shrugged.

* * *

><p>"And where were you when this was all going on, Mrs Finn?" Catherine asked Vicki.<p>

Currently, Catherine and Brass are interviewing the two passengers in the bathroom Grissom and Sara were referring to. But, just like the others, they didn't get that many answers. And the answers they got...well, most of them were full of pure BS.

"Uh, Mercer, Vicki Mercer. Um, I was in the bathroom," Vicki answered.

"In the bathroom? For how long?" Catherine pressed.

"For a while. I...I really don't fly very well," Vicki confessed.

"And where was your husband?" Warrick questioned.

"We're not married. We just work together," Carl corrected.

"Right. Where were you?" Warrick repeated his question.

"I was in my seat," Carl replied.

"So then you saw what happened?" Catherine guessed.

"I had my headphones on. I was listening to the air traffic control channel. Puts me right out," Carl answered.

"So you...slept through everything and you woke up next to a...dead body," Catherine summised in disbelief.

"Basically, yeah," Carl shrugged.

* * *

><p>Sara continued to process the lavatory on the plane. She dusted everywhere: the doorframe, the basin edge and eventually, the underside of the cealing where she finds something interesting.<p>

"Handprints. A stallion," Sara remarked.

* * *

><p>"Alright. We're going to have to change tack here because what I said about getting more flies with honey – I was wrong," Catherine sighed as she took off her jacket and threw it on the couch before flopping next to it.<p>

"This is incredible. Ten people and no one's talking. My theory: the killer is in the group and the rest of them are afraid," Warrick said.

* * *

><p>Back in the plane, Sara, Nick and Kady are in the main aisle once again looking for evidence. Grissom is sitting somewhere writing in his folder. Sara and Kady are looking at something on the side of the passenger seat.<p>

"That guy was wearing khakis, right?" Sara asked as she picked up the fibres with tweezers.

"Yaeh," Grissom nodded as he and Sara looked at the fibres with magnifying glasses, "Fibres drawn from his pants, maybe?"

"We get anything off this clothes?" Kady questioned her godfather.

"Daddy's working on it, sweetheart," was Grissom's answer.

* * *

><p>"What have you got?" Nick asked Greg as he walked into the DNA lab.<p>

"Well, what you got here is a nice bordeauz and a starbucks blend. No blood. No saliva," Greg answered.

"What about prints?" Nick questioned.

"Well, suede leather's a tough gig. It's too porous," Greg pointed out.

Then Nick noticed something on the back of the jacket. Something that looked familiar.

"Hey. Are you losing your touch there, Einstein?" Nick teased as he held the photos of Tony's back to the back of the suede jacket, "Coroner's photos of the dead guy's back. Multiple horseshoe-shaped bruises. Those are definitely shoeprints."

"Yeah. Looks like somebody stomped on your dead guy," Greg remarked, "Hey. Where's Kady?"

"I left her at the crime scene with Grissom," Nick answered.

"You did what?" Greg practically screeched, "I could've looked after her here, you know!"

"Sorry, Greggo. I promise you can look after her next time," Nick swore with a pat on his shoulder.

* * *

><p>"Bring me the jacket. If I do heel impressions, I'll need something to compare it to. See you in twenty," Grissom spoke into his phone before hanging up.<p>

"I need their shoes," Grissom announced to Catherine.

"Why you telling me?" Catherine immediately demanded.

"Because you're the people person, right?" Grissom responded.

"Well, why don't you tell them that? They're not giving me bupkus," Catherine retorted.

"Please?" Grissom pleaded.

Catherine looked up at Grissom...just as he started giving her the puppy-dog look. She roles her eyes.

"You know, that only looks cute when Kady's doing it, right?" Catherine laughed.

Grissom didn't care. He still did it. With a sigh, Catherone stood up from the office chair and handed Grissom her bag of snacks on the way out.

* * *

><p>"OK, people! Listen up! Shoes...off!" Catherine requested...only to have no one make a move, "Now!"<p>

That immediately caused everyone who was in first class to remove their shoes. From the sidelines, Grissom stood there watching. Just watching.

* * *

><p>Now Grissom, Catherine and Warrick are back in that empty office comparing everyone's shoes to the shoeprints in the victim's suede jacket...that they don't have yet. Lucky bastard. I want one of those! Right now, they're up to printing Max Valdez's sneakers.<p>

"I used to have a pair of these," Grissom remarked as he moved the shoes to the side.

"It all comes down to shoeprints," Warrick stated.

"Hey," Sara greeted as she walked into the room with Kady in her arms.

"Hi," Catherine returned before kissing Kady's cheek, "Hey, sunshine."

"Hi," Kady responded as she watched Catherine label the prints.

"Looks like a shoe sale. Uh, Nick sent these photo comparisons over from the lab," Sara announced as she handed the envelope to Catherine.

"Oh. Excellent," Catherine complimented.

"Max," Grissom said as he handed the print to Catherine.

"That looks good," Catherine remarked as she compared the two.

"Yeah. That's a match," Grissom agreed before noticing something, "That distinctive mark on the circular tread...hmm."

"Well, that's it, then," Catherine sighed.

* * *

><p>"OK, folks! I've got some good news...and I've got some bad news," Catherine announced.<p>

"The good news?" Nate asked.

"Well, the good news would be that seven of you may be...getting out of here very soon," Catherine started.

"What's the bad news?" Lou wanted to know.

"The bad news is that three of you may be staying in Vegas a lot longer than you planned. And that would be...Mr Lou Everett, Mr Max Valdez...and Dr Kiera Behrle. Would you...please come with me?" Catherine requested.

* * *

><p>"Stevie, keep these guys on ice," Brass instructed Stevie as he let Lou and Max out of the interview room and saw Catherine, Kiera and Emily approaching, "I'm sorry, ma'am. This is as far as your daughter can go but we'll have an officer stay with her."<p>

"Come on. It's been a rough night," Kiera moaned.

"Dr Behrle, we're going to be asking you some very sensitive questions – questions I know that I wouldn't want my daughter to hear," Catherine told her.

Brass knelt down to Emily's level and talked to her, "Hi. My name is Jim. What's your name?"

"Emily," Emily introduced herself.

As Catherine and Kiera watched, Brass and Emily shoke hands.

"Emily. Oh, that's a great name. Emily, I'm going to make you a deal, OK? We're going to borrow your mum for a little while," Brass started.

"I'll be right back, sweetie, OK?" Kiera promised before kissing Emily on her cheek.

"OK," Emily nodded.

"OK? And here's the good part. You get to borrow anything you see on me," Brass promised her.

"Can I borrow your gun?" Emily asked.

As Brass and Emily continued to talk, Catherine and Kiera casually strolled into the interview room.

"Well, you know, my gun...it's kind of...it's old, and it's heavy and...and it's stuck there. Anything else?" Brass questioned.

"How about your badge?" Emily requested kindly.

"You got a deal. And you know what? This is the best thing. You know why? Because anyone gives you any trouble, all you got to do is...flash this. There you go," Brass told her as he handed her his badge, "So, were you scared? *Emily nods* Did you see what happened? *Emily shakes her head* OK. OK. It's OK."

* * *

><p>"Sweet kid – Emily," Brass remarked as he walked into the interview room and took a seat next to Catherine, "Uh, so, er...Behrle...how long have you been a phsician?"<p>

"I prefer surgeon," Kiera corrected.

"OK," Brass nodded.

"I've been practicing for eleven years," Kiera answered.

"And what was the nature of your visit to, uh...to Las Vegas?" Brass asked.

"Emily. She wanted to see the white tigers," Kiera responded.

"How did you get that black eye?" Catherine quizzed.

"I caught it during the ruckus. The price you pay for being a Good Samaritan," Kiera shrugged.

"OK. I'm, uh...just a little confused. Your heel impressions were found on the back of the victim's suede jacket," Catherine announced as she showed Kiera the photo, "That's a little aggressive for a good Samaritan."

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_NO! NO!" Tony was yelling face down on the aisle floor._

"_Hey! Stop it!" Kiera pleaded._

_She grabbed Lou's arm, hoping to stop the fight. Sadly, that didn't work so well. He turned around and accidentally hit Kiera on the cheek. In surprise, she stumbled backwards, clutching her sore cheek._

"_Oh," she moaned as she accidentally stepped on Tony's back to get everyone out of the way, "Get out of the way. Get out of the way! Give him some air. Sir?" She flipped Tony over and started giving him CPR, "One, two, three... One, two..."  
><em>_End flashback_

"If he had been in my ER, I might have been able to save him. But at thirty thousand feet, there's only so much you can do. Look...I did what I could," Kiera sighed.

"And you're satisfied with that?" Catherine asked.

"Why? Because I'm a doctor, I'm responsible for what happened on that plane?" Kiera scoffed.

"What did happen?" Brass wanted to know.

"I protected my daughter and I tried to save a guy's life. And, yes. I'm satisfied with that," Kiera nodded.

"Well, you've seen Cops, the TV Show. So you know our game. The first one to talk gets to make a deal," Brass stated.

"I don't need a deal," Kiera shook her head.

"No? Well, maybe your daughter, Emily, needs you to take one," Brass retorted.

* * *

><p>"Mm-hmm...right...makes sense. OK. Thanks, Catherine," Grissom said before hanging up, "We have a ping-pong ball. We just need to find the paddles."<p>

"Where are they?" Sara asked.

"Probably in the first compartment," Grissom guessed as Sara stood up and approached the overhead compartment over the front seat, "The doctor in 3E told Catherine that she performed CPR on the victim. Check the inside of the paddles. See if there's any bio gel on them."

Sara checked out the paddles and found nothing, "These look like they weren't even used. There was more lubricant in the bathroom. It's pretty negligent for a doctor. She's got to know every commercial airline carries defib paddles."

"Yeah. And if she didn't know, the Flight Attendant sure did," Grissom added.

* * *

><p>"By the time I thought to grab the defibrillator, he was already dead," Shannon defended.<p>

"But you are trained to use the paddles in the event of an emergency situation and this was an emergency situation," Catherine stated.

"Yes. But I'm trained to use them when a man is having cardiac arrest in his seat. Not flopping around in the aisle," Shannon retorted.

"So, whatever it was he was going through, it didn't look like a heart attack," Catherine repeated.

"Look. I'm going to be honest with you. I was scared. I mean...I thought this guy was going to take us all down," Shannon confessed.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Alright. Everyone needs to return to their seats," Shannon said._

"_Get out of the way! I got to get off!" Tony yelled as he kicked at the door.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Alright. So let me get this straight. 2F is on the floor. His wife is in the aisle brandishing a broken wine bottle. What about 1A? He was closest to the action," Catherine pointed out helpfully.

"That would be Mr Cash. Um, he was in his seat," Shannon shook her head.

* * *

><p>"Mr Cash," Warrick greeted.<p>

"I was wondering when you guys were going to get around to asking me some questions," Preston sighed.

"So, what did you see?" Warrick asked.

"Not much," Preston answered.

"Sir, it's been a long night, and we don't have much time before our crime scene flies away," Grissom told him.

"I was in my seat," Preston said.

"You were sitting in 1A," Grissom stated.

"Sitting ringside. How did you not see what happened?" Warrick wanted to know.

That was when Preston took out his walking stick and opened it in front of them. That was when Grissom and Warrick realized why Preston couldn't see what happened on the plane. That was when they realized that Preston Cash is blind.

"The blind leading the blind," Grissom remarked.

"I'm not totally blind. I'm legally blind. My central visial acuity is 20/200," Preston explained.

"_Take your seat!_"

"_You got to land the plane! I got to get off this plane!_"

"_Get him off the door! Get him down!_"

"Can you identify the voices?" Grissom asked.

"First voice. 4B. Businessman. I could tell by the way he ordered drinks," Preston recalled.

"How do you mean?" Grissom pressed.

"JW black. Triple. Not double," Preston recited.

"That's Lou," Warrick realized.

"Second voice. Guy in 2F. Kind of far away," Preston went on.

"Max," Warrick identified.

"Third voice?" Grissom requested.

"Third voice. Row behind me. Two seats over. Mr Dot-Com. Guy must've typed 60 words a minute," Preston remarked.

"That's Nate," Warrick announced.

"Mr Cash, you got to help me. I got eight eyewitnesses with carious stories. I put them all in a mixing bowl, add eggs, milk, stick it in the oven and all I got is a limp souffle," Grissom pointed out.

"We need you to tell us everything you heard from the time the deceased banged on the cockpit door to the time he died," Warrick pleaded him.

"Then listen up," Preston instructed.

"_I need to get off this plane! I have to get off this plane!_"

"_Get him off the door._"

"_Get out of the way! Get out of the way!_"

"_Mummy! Mummeee!_"

"_No! No! No!_"

"I never heard such silence," Preston sighed...which is followed by Grissom's pager beeping.

* * *

><p>"I got two hours till I lose my crime scene to the Feds. Tell me you have something," Grissom begged Jenna.<p>

"I know what set this guy off," Jenna announced.

"That's more than I got," Grissom remarked.

"We know our victim suffered from intercranial bleeding. I had that pegged as possible cause of death so I crack his skull open. And what do I find? A cantaloupe in a soup can," jenna began explaining.

"Tight fit," Grissom whistled.

"And not from one or two blows to the head. He was also running a high fever so I tested his spinal fluid. A normal protein level is between 15 and 45 milligrams. Candlewell's was 60. Did anybody mention this guy had a headache?" Jenna asked.

"Flight Attendant gave him two asprin. Why?" Grissom wanted to know.

"He was suffering from undiagnosed encephalitis," Jenna dropped the bomb.

"Swelling of the brain," Grissom realised.

"It can manifest like a heart attack. Slurred speech delirium, loss of consciousness. You throw in the altitude and the air pressure changes in the cabin and our guy was probably out of his mind," Jenna explained.

"Is that what killed him? Encephalitis?" Grissom questioned.

"It wasn't the one thing that killed him," Jenna shook her head, "Ruptured spleen, intercranial bleeding, petecchial hemorrhaging. And the guy's heart just stopped beating."

"A, B, C, D or all of the above. Standoff with the police – guy gets shot in the chest, runs back into his burning house inhaling smoke as he goes. The roof collapses. The air conditioning unit falls on his head. He dies. What killed him?" Grissom asked rhetorically.

* * *

><p><strong>Here comes my favourite bit. I love Nick and Warrick in this!<strong>

**LEGGO!**

* * *

><p>The team each carried a dummy onto the plane. With time running out until the Feds take over, all they had to do now is re-enact what happened on the plane that lead to Tony's death.<p>

"OK. Vicki Mercer and Carl Finn I believe are in the bathroom," Grissom announced.

"Mile high club," Warrick remarked as he and Catherine carry their dummies into the bathroom.

"If you ask me, it's their spouses that are the dummies," Catherine grumbled.

"Emily Behrle is in 3F," Grissom went on.

"Come to mama," Catherine remarked as she scooped Kady in her arms and placed her on Emily's seat covered in a blanket and sticking a tag on Kady's t-shirt.

"Preston Cash. 1A," Grissom finished his part of the list.

"Tony Candlewell. Dead guy!" Brass added as he raised his dummy.

"Right here. 3C. And for now, he's alive until he's dead," Grissom said as Brass set his dummy into the seat.

"So, you wanna tell us what we're doing here?" Brass asked.

"The physical evidence that Sara, Nick, Kady and I collected is contradicting the anecdotal statements that you, Catherine and Warrick got and my money's on the physical evidence," Grissom answered.

"So is mine. These passengers are lying," Catherine agreed.

"I mean, if this was an arson case, we'd burn down an empty house to prove our theory, right? Well, in this case, we're going to recreate the flight from...1630 hours on. You are in 4B," Grissom announced as he handed Brass a nametag with a name of one of the passengers written on it.

"Lou," Brass read.

"Lou – the angry businessman. How about that?" Catherine remarked.

"I want to be Shannon," Sara said, causing Grissom to hand over Shannon's card to Sara, "Good."

"The stewardess," Warrick teased.

"Excuse me – it's Flight Attendant," Sara corrected.

"Catherine – the doctor. 3E," Grissom said as Catherine took the card from him.

"Single mum. What an imagination you have," Catherine sighed sarcastically as she sat next to Kady, "Hey, baby girl."

"Max and Marlene. 2E and F. You two are married. Who wants to wear the pants?" Grissom asked Nick and Warrick.

"CSI-3 seniority, 'sweetie'," Nick smirked as he took the Max card from Grissom, earning giggles from Kady.

"Yeah, whatever. You're henpecked anyway. Oh, you find that funny huh?" Warrick playfully glared at Kady as he took the Marlene card from Grissom, "You're gonna get it later, Kadelin."

Kady continued to giggle and hid behind Catherine's jacket.

"Let me guess – you're the computer geek," Sara said.

"In the interest of clarity, yes. Nate in 2C," Grissom nodded as he sat in the seat...only to have it fall backwards. Warrick snickered at the sight...only to earn a glare from Grissom, "OK. Look, it's going to be sunrise in ten minutes. We're going to have to do a 'Run, Lola, Run' and play this in literal time. Up until the point that Captain Murdle escorted the dead guy back to his seat, the events are substantiated by the flight log and the eyewitness statements unless anybody knows something different."

"What time was that?" Catherine asked.

"1632 hours – exactly 33 minutes before they landed in Vegas. One minute later, the plane hit turbulence," Grissom announced.

"And, according to the Flight Attendant, that's when our stiff lost it and started hammering his call button," Brass added.

"So I walk over. Try to calm the guy down. But he won't quit," Sara said.

"Well, we know he's suffering from encephalitis. Ge's probably sweating and fighting back a migraine," Grissom stated.

"I know what my guy's doing in my seat – Lou. He's getting ticked off," Brass added.

"Yeah. But Candlewell is ticking off Nate in 2C even worse. I mean, this guy is perseverating. Uncontrollably kicking at the seat," Grissom retorted.

"That's when he winds up and breaks your seat," Brass pointed out.

"So, I get up, spin around. Confront the guy," Grissom did so.

"Now, Lou, in 4B, said he was the peacemaker," Warrick added.

"Peacemaker, my ass," Brass scoffed as he held up hte alcohol bottles, "He's got three empties in the pouch. Seat reeks of whiskey. The guy probably spilled Lou's drink."

"Very good," Catherine complimented.

"Way to go, Uncle Jim!" Kady cheered, causing Brass to smile.

"I was boss at CSI once. For a reason," Brass boasted, "Anyway, Lou gets up. He's angry. He takes a swipe at the guy. After knocking a few back a thirty-three thousand feet, you know, probably misses. And what does he get for his trouble?"

"A CD swipe across the chops," Warrick answered.

"Right. So he falls back. Well...maybe Lou...spills his own drink," Brass said.

"By this time, Candlewell's got to be out of his seat, right?" Grissom asked as he held the dummy.

"If I'm Max, I want no part of this. Plus, I don't have an aisle seat," Nick pointed out.

"Yeah. But you're lucky. Your wife is going to make sure that you get in the playing field," Brass retorted.

"Yeah. Go ahead, honey. Save my life," Warrick smirked in agreement.

"Right. Max gets up. Slides across Marlene. Excuse me, buttercup," Nick teased as he slid across Warrick.

"Candlewell's moving up and down the aisle now," Grissom said as he moved the dummy.

"I come over. Confront the dead guy. Then what? Who talked to 2F? To Max?" Nick questioned.

"I did. Max told the dead guy to sit down. He turned, he shoved Max into the food cart," Brass answered.

Grissom used the dummy to push Nick. As Nick fell to the ground, Kady started giggling. The music to Nick's ears made him smile...and playfully glare at Kady.

"What?" Kady asked innocently.

"Warrick – I mean, Marlene – that's when you got up and grabbed the broken wine neck," Sara quickly changed the suject.

"Saved Nick's butt. As usual," Warrick boasted as he stood up.

"There's a bottle of wine on the floor. You slash at Candlewell," Grissom started.

"Then he swipes him across the hand. Hense the defensive wound," Brass finished.

"Now our guy's bleeding. He turns and heads for the cockpit," Grissom went on as he took his dummy to the cockpit, "Bang, bang. He wants in the cockpit. But the door is locked. Captain Murdle gets on the horn. Calls first class twice. No answer. Why?"

"Shannon's vapor-locked," Sara answered.

"He can't get in the cockpit. What's next?" Grissom wanted to know, "He heads for the exit door. Blood underneath the latch handle shows that Candlewell tried to open it. And, if he gets the door open, they all die."

"Now it's a whole new ball game. It's every man for himself," Brass remarked as he headed to the front of the plan.

"Oh yeah," Nick agreed as he headed towards the front, "Butterfly, cover your eyes. Trust me. You do NOT want to see this."

"OK, daddy," Kady nodded as she covered her eyes.

"This is when they really get scared," Nick got back on track.

"And according to Preston, Max and Lou? They got to Candlewell first," Warrick piped in.

"The struggle ensued. Max ad Lou slammed into Preston. And at some point, Candlewell goes down. Now it's a free-for-all," Grissom announced.

"And my shoes end up on his back," Catherine said as she stepped on him.

"Mine too," Nick added as he did the same.

"Ditto," Brass nodded.

"He's messing with my man. So I get my licks in," Warrick smirked.

"Nate's knuckles were bruised. So he was in on it too," Grissom stated.

"We're in close quarters. So there's elbows flying everywhere," Brass pointed out.

"That's probably how the doctor got her black eye," Catherine mused.

"Right," Brass agreed.

"Hey, guys!" Sara called out, "If you jump a guy at the exit, he dies at the exit."

Everyone backed away from the dummy as they realized that Sara was trying to tell them.

"Yeah. And our guy was found five feet away with his head towards coach," Brass recalled.

"He tried to get away," Nick realized.

"But they didn't let him," Warrick added.

"And at this point, we're not individials anymore. We're a mob," Catherine piped in, "And you can't perform CPR on a man's back. Dr Behrle had to have rolled him over. Probably just to cover for herself."

"That makes us all murderers," Grissom proclaimed.

Nick walked to Kady and gently removed her nametag and her hands from her very beautiful hazel eyes.

"Hey. It's over now. We know what happened," Nick whispered to Kady as he held her and kissed her cheek.

* * *

><p>"I want five of those passengers arrested for murder," Grissom requested the sheriff after he explained what had happened.<p>

"Oh, that's four more than I anticipated," Brian remarked.

"We looked at the evidence and the evidence says five," Grissom told him.

"Let me get this straight. Five strangers get on a plane and then, together, they killed a man," Brian summised.

"On the surface, self-defence. They thought Candlewell was bring the plane down," Grissom explained.

"And he would have," Brian added.

"But he didn't. They stopped him and then they killed him. Not as individuals. But as a mob," Grissom retorted.

"Let's cut to the chase, Gil. Can you prove your case?" Brian asked.

"Not yet. I need more time," Grissom answered.

"Well, time's up," Brian announced as he climbed into his car, "I'm going to give these people their walking papers. If the Feds want to pursue it, let them."

"Don't do that," Grissom pleaded.

"Oh, come on. No jury's going to ever convict them," Brian scoffed.

"You don't know that, Brian," Grissom retorted.

"Look, if you or I were on that plane, we would do whatever it takes to save our lives," Brian told him.

"That's what a jury would say. That's not what the evidence says," Grissom shot back.

"That's exactly my point," Brian said before he drove off.

* * *

><p>"<em>Las Vegas Air has issued no formal comment other than to stand by the actions taken by the flight crew. Meanwhile, the first class passengers from the flight have been released and no charges will be filed. The airline provided a bus to their Las Vegas destinations. Our request for interviews were denied, leaving the events surrounding the death of Tony Candlewell a mystery.<em>"

In the break room, Nick and Sara were watching the news report on Tony's death. Snuggled up against her father was Kady sound asleep. Nick had both arms wrapped around her protectively. Warrick walked in behind them reading a newspaper. When he saw what they were watching, he grabbed the remote and turned the TV off, earning protests from Nick and Sara.

"Let it go, guys," Warrick sighed.

"Those people should be going to jail. Not some hotel on the Strip," Sara retorted.

"It's out of our hands. Our field ruling was overturned by the good old Sheriff and the Feds," Warrick announced.

"And you're OK with that? We processed evidence for twelve hours, laid out the whole case and now those passengers are going to suck martinis and eat shrimp cocktails? Where's the justice?" Nick demanded.

"Oh, you think this is about justice?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah. What else?" Nick retorted.

"It's about human nature – how people react when their lives are threatened," Grissom answered.

"I know you're not condoning what they did," Sara said.

"I'm not discounting it. I mean, think about it. Is there anyplace more vulnerable than being at thirty thousand feet in a tin can?" Warrick asked his friends.

"Feeling vulnerable is not a defense and where they were is irrelevant. They took a life," Sara reminded him.

"Because their lives were threatened," Warrick retorted.

"Their lives were threatened when Candlewell was at the emergency exit trying to open it. But the five feet between the exit and the aisles is what made teh difference between self-defense and murder," Nick shot back.

"Human nature again. I mean, adrenaline doesn't come with an off switch," Warrick remarked.

"I don't care what you say. I could never take a life," Sara proclaimed.

"If it was between him or me, I could. Nick, you're a father. What would you do? Would you go all the way or just sit back and let the guy open that exit and kill you and your daughter?" Warrick asked.

"I'm a father. It's my duty to protect my daughter. And if her life was threatened or something was stopping me from returning to my baby, then hell yeah. I'll go all the way," Nick swore as he tightened his hold on Kady.

"Well, it's wicked serious in here," Catherine remarked.

"Catherine, you're a parent like me. You and Lindsey are on that plane. How far do you go?" Nick asked her, although he already knew the answer.

"I'd be like you, Nick. I'd go all the way," Catherne immediately answered.

"You didn't even hesitate," Sara stated in surprise.

"That's right. Nicky and I have a young daughter each. Someone threatened to harm either one of them. Our protective instincts will immediately sky-rocket to an all-time high. If it involves the protection of our children, we would fight to the death to keep them safe," Catherine explained.

"See? We have four people, all with different opinions. Think of how the passengers must have felt," Warrick dared them.

"What do you think, Grissom?" Sara asked.

"I can't answer that question," Grissom confessed.

"That's a cop-out. It's a simple question. What would you have done if you had been one of those passengers?" Catherine wanted to know.

"It's not about that. You all have different opinions but you've taken the same point of view. You've put yourself in the shoes of the passengers. But nobody's put themselves in the shoes of the victim. That's the point," Grissom said.

"I'm sorry. What are you saying?" Sara demanded.

"Nobody stopped to ask Candlewell if he was alright. They just assumed. Because he was kicking the back of Nate's seat, that he was a jerk. Because he was pushing his call button, that he was bothering the Flight Attendant. Because he was trying to get into the lavatory, he was making a scene. Because he was going back and forth up and down the aisles, he was posing a threat," Grissom reminded them.

"He was a threat," Catherine recalled.

"No. He turned into a threat," Grissom corrected, "It didn't have to be that way. People make assumptions. That's the problem. You just did. And I think these passengers made the wrong assumption and now this guy's dead."

"Well, if that's your stance, how could it have ben prevented?" Warrick asked.

"If just one person had stopped and taken the time to look at the guy, to listen to him, to figure out what was wrong with him, it might now have happened. It took five people to kill him. It would have only taken one person to save his life," Grissom stated.

Nick sighed tiredly and looked at the little girl curled up in his hold against his chest fast asleep. He smiled to himself and gently stroked the soft curls that flowed around her adorable face. He kissed her head and inhaled the sweet aroma of strawberries and cream her shampoo gave. **(AN: The strawberries and cream shampoo smell idea? I got that from **_**The Mentalist**_**. Don't know what I'm talking about? Watch the latest season finale. It's where Patrick finds out who Red John is and asks him to give him evidence that he killed his wife and young daughter. Red John then goes on to explain what his wife and daughter smelled like when he killed them. He said that Angela smelled clean - like soap - and that Charlotte smelled like strawberries and cream. Some kind of children's shampoo. Later, Patrick calls for Red John's attention and avenges Angela and Charlotte by shooting him to death.)**

"Well, that was one hell of a case," Catherine remarked.

"Something I don't wanna repeat in a hurry," Warrick agreed.

"I just want to go home and forget about it," Sara sighed.

"We can go home," Grissom announced, causing everybody to suddenly look at him, "Our shift is over. We only hung around so we can see what would happen to those five passengers. Well, now we know. There's no reason for us to stick around. And I don't know about you, but I'd like to go home, have a nice relaxing bath and climb into bed for a nice sleep before working tonight."

"That's the best idea yet," Nick commented as he gently stood up and left the room.

Eventually, Grissom, Sara, Warrick and Catherine followed. They desperately wanted to go to the home they sometimes forget about because there are occassions where they practically lived in the lab and wouldn't see the insides of their own house for two, even three days straight.

True to his word, Grissom relaxed in the bath for a little while before changing into something comfortable and having a long awaited cat nap. Nothing was able to disturb him; not even a call from the sheriff himself.

Catherine did something she hadn't done in a long time and drove her daughter to school. When she got home, she practically dove into her bathtub filled with warm soapy water and aroma oils with a glass of wine and a good romantic novel she started reading a little while ago.

Warrick had a shower and changed into something a lot more confortable than what he wore to work. Afterwards, he collapsed on the couch with a bottle of beer in his hand and settled with watching college football games.

Sara dove into her bathtub like Catherine did, filled with warm soapy water and aroma oils. But unlike her friend, she was reading one of her recently bought crime novels and had the police scanner playing next to her.

When Nick got home, he stumbled into his bedroom and fell onto his bed with Kady on his chest. Without getting changed or tucking himself in, the two of them fell asleep on each other's arms.

Even Brass was glad the case was over. When he got home, he had a quick wash and fell asleep on his couch with the newspaper wide open on his chest which was covered by a white cotton singlet.

This case had pushed them to their limits. And needless to say, they were exhausted and wishing they didn't have to go to work that very night. What they need is a vacation.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that is that. Next episode will be Sex, Lies and Larvae.<strong>

**BYE! AND PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Oh! Do you think I should get some of the other seasons going as well?**


	11. Sex, Lies and Larvae

**Sex, Lies and Larvae: A body covered in insects is found in the desert, causing Grissom and Sara to launch an investigation. With help from the entomological evidence, Grissom discovers the time of death. Unfortunately, the husband – who is also the prime suspect – claims to be out of town around time of death and appears to be getting away with his wife's murder, much to Sara's dismay. Meanwhile, Warrick and Catherine work the case of a house call where a valuable painting is stolen. In another case, a woman's car is found at the bus station with the driver missing, forcing Nick to launch a missing persons case.**

**Next, I-15 Murders: A middle-aged woman is abducted from a local supermarket. When inspecting the bathroom, Grissom finds a message on a stall door that makes him suspect that this has happened before. Despite their personal differences, Warrick and Sara have to work together when an apparent robbery goes wrong and a man finds his brother murdered in his apartment. Meanwhile, Kristy Hopkins (from the pilot episode) finds herself in trouble again after getting into a beef with a hotel security guard and she calls on Nick to rescue her.**

**Then, Fahrenheit 932: A man is awaiting trail for starting an arson fire that killed his wife and son. Claiming he is innocent, he calls on Grissom to help him. Now it is up to Grissom, Sara and Warrick to clear him, especially when they learn that Day Shift supervisor Conrad Ecklie did sloppy work. In another investigation, a teenage 'runner' is shot to death at close range and Nick and Catherine have to figure out who killed him and what circumstances had lead to his death.**

**Later, Boom: A bomb goes off in an office building, resulting in the death of a security guard. Grissom, Sara and Warrick launch an investigation to find out the bomber. And their prime suspect is an over-helpful fellow security guard who also has the knowledge to build a bomb. Meanwhile, Nick's career and his future with Kady are on the line when he spends the night with Kristy Hopkins and she is found murdered hours later. Things only get worse when Nick's DNA and fingerprints are at the crime scene and Ecklie is the lead on the case. And when Ecklie takes Kady away because Nick is the primary suspect in her murder, Catherine only has a short amount of time before Ecklie arrests Nick for a murder he didn't commit!**

**Remaining episodes:**

**To Halve and to Hold  
><strong>**Table Stakes  
><strong>**Too Tough to Die  
><strong>**Face Lift  
><strong>**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler (Season 1 finale)**

**REVIEW REPLIES!**

**caitlin: **_**Ideas?**_

_**Maybe at the end, Nick could be crying about Kristy and Kady could comfort him**_

_**Ecklie could take Kady off of Nick because of his involvement**_

_**Jack the pimp could threaten Kady**_

_**(Be so funny if Kady could come in when Greg is examining Nick's semen LOL awkward) **_

_**xx**_

**All so perfect! Your first suggestion reminds me of the end of Lady Heather's Box. Catherine lies in her bed crying over Eddie's death and the brush of death Lindsey had and Lindsey comes into her room and comforts her. So that's a good one. Ecklie taking Kady away... Evil. But a good idea. (and so gonna be used as seen in the summary) And I could totally see them having an emotional reunion in front of the others. Jack threatening Kady would result in Jack being beaten to a pulp by Nicky over here. But I'll see if I can throw in a black eye...or two. hehehe... The last idea you suggested... AWKWARD... BUT STILL SO FUNNY! That's definitely going in there! Thanks for the review!**

**Well, there goes a page and a half of an author's note again. Once again, I don't really care. It's nice to have a long conversation with you guys every once in a while, you know.**

**Well, obviously, for the disclaimer, I don't own any plot lines or characters for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. If I did, Kady would be in there and Nick would have a love interest that actually doesn't end up hurt or killed. Of course, I do own sweet little Kadelin over here.**

**And for now...nah. I'll leave that till the end. Oh! If you have a Facebook account, I suggest you start playing CSI: Crime City if you haven't already. It's so much like CSI, it's not funny.**

**Since I won't actually be saying anything at the end of the chapter, I'll just sing this now. **_**Do please feel free to leave a glowing review. I'll have a gift for you and you and you...**_** Sorry. I'm in a Sound of Music mode for some reason. By the way, that little tune's to the song So Long, Farewell. I sing a little bit of it to my Personal Development classmates before I ditch halfway through the lesson for saxophone lessons. Just as a little joke. We're a pretty close bunch.**

**Also, if you want to, add this story or me or both to your alerts so you know when my stories are updated and when I upload a new story for your entertainment. OK. I'm rambling now.**

**ENJOY! ENJOY! ENJOY! ENJOY! ENJOY! (And there goes two pages on an author's note.)**

* * *

><p>"Isn't it great to get back to nature?" a hiker sighed as he and his friends, Angie and another man, hokes through the mountains in Las Vegas, "You want to set camp here?"<p>

"We can camp on the moon. Just give me the shovel," Angie requested.

Without thinking twice, the hiker removed his backpack and let it drop to the ground below him. He reached for the shovel and handed it to her.

"Chill, chill. You got paper?" he asked.

"I have what I need," Angie responded as she hurried off.

When Angie walked further the bushes, we begin to hear buzzing. She notices this after she tried to get the shovel open. When she looked in front of her, she gasped at the sight before her. She saw insects. Lots and lots of insects.

"Oh my God!" she screamed.

"Angie?" her fellow hiker called out worriedly before running to her, "Angie!"

"They're...they're everywhere," she gasped.

"What the?" the guy trailed off as he noticed something in the bushes. Or should I say... "That's a person!"

The sight of the dead body alone was enough to make them start coughing and gagging. Or is it the thought of it? Meh. Whatever. Either way, the dead body made them want to throw up.

* * *

><p>"Hey," the detective greeted as Grissom and Sara approached Brass.<p>

"Hikers found her. Looks like a gunshot to the head," Brass explained.

"Did you find a weapon?" Grissom asked.

"No," Brass answered.

Slowly, Grissom and Sara approached their latest dead body. After setting his kit down and sliding his hands into a pair of latex gloves, he brushed a few of the bugs away from the body. Sara just sat there looking wide-eyed at the sight of the flying insects that surrounded her.

"I hate bees," Sara remarked.

"Just paper wasps. They're having too much fun to worry about us," Grissom reassured her.

"I never get used to this part. You know, when the bugs get going," Sara confessed as Grissom opened his kit.

"Just doing what God intended. Recycling us back to the earth," Grissom quiped as he looked down at the body, "Hey, Officer!"

"Yeah?" he responded.

"Can I borrow some of your hot coffee, please?" Grissom requested.

"Sure," the officer replied before handed Grissom the cup.

Sara continued batting her hand at the wasps. Yep. Bugs: not really her thing. Grissom removed some of the bugs on the body and placed them in a container with care. As he poured some of the coffee into the container, Sara moved in closer to the body.

"Preservation," Grissom said to Sara before placing the lid on the container and beginning to take beetle samples, "John...Paul...George...Ringo."

"Beetles. No alkali fluids in the dirt so she wasn't killed here. Whoever dumped her must have been in a hurry. Didn't take the time to bury her. What do you think?" Sara asked Grissom.

"You got any of that beef jerky you're always gnawing on?" Grissom suddenly questioned.

"You can eat?" Sara responded.

"I want to keep these little fellas alive. They're our first witness to the crime," Grissom announced.

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Gary Dourdan  
>George Eads<br>Jorja Fox  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

"Cath, you want some coffee?" Warrick offered.

"Please. Cream with some of that fake stuff," Catherine accepted.

"There's nothing good to eat around here," Nick moaned...only to have Catherine toss him an apple, "And for you."

"Thanks, daddy," Kady responded as she began eating her strawberry yougart.

"Hey, Elmo. Got some cookies for the Cookie Monster?" Warrick asked discretely before Kady passed him one of two bags of cookies (Nick started bringing two bags of cookies because Warrick keeps stealing hers), "You're a lifesaver."

In true to the Cookie Monster, he shoveled them into his mouth just like our favourite blue furry monster from Seseame Street. Kady giggled at the sound effects and the acting Warrick provided. Nick smiled to himself and had a hard time supressing laughs at his best friend's antics. Aside from him, Warrick was the only person who could send Kady into a giggle fit.

"Uh, Warrick, last time I checked, we are at work and waiting for a case. You can pig out later."

That caused Warrick to freeze in fear. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Gilbert Grissom has arrived. Warrick quickly glanced at his best friend and goddaughter who were killing themselves laughing. But eventually, they calmed themselves down when they noticed Grissom's facial expressions.

"Sorry, Uncle Gil," Kady apologised.

"It's OK, Kady," Grissom reassured her as he ruffled her honey brown curls affectionately, "Sorry I'm late, by the way."

"Hey. How's the body with the bugs?" Catherine asked.

"How do you know about that already?" Grissom demanded before glancing at Sara who is on the other side of the room reading a book.

"Hey. Don't look at me," Sara said.

"We, uh, played a hunch. Checked with homicide. You were late," Nick explained as Kady fed him some strawberry yougart.

"What do you have for us?" Catherine wanted to know.

"A Paul Sorenson," Grissom announced as he handed the assignment sheet to Catherine.

"Missing since last night. Last seen at the home of Richard Zeigler in – ooh – Summerlin," Catherine read.

"Summerlin. Rich folks," Warrick remarked.

"Warrick, you can work the case with Catherine," Grissom said before remembering something, "Don't you have a court date coming up?"

"Yeah. The DA asked me to testify on chain of custody. I could do that in my sleep," Warrick shrugged, "In fact, if Kady was my daughter, I could do that and act like the Cookie Monster to entertain her at the same time."

"Listen. Juries need to have confidence in the evidentiary process. So work with Catherine then break off when you have to appear," Grissom instructed.

"Yeah," Warrick nodded.

"Bye, sunshine," Catherine said as she kissed Kady's head and Warrick copied her actions before they left.

"Bye!" Kady called out to them.

"Good luck!" Grissom added.

"See ya!" Warrick replied.

"Need help with your homicide?" Nick offered.

"No. Sara's going to work with me," Grissom declined graciously, "You get a missing person. Sheryl Applegate. Her husband notified the police that she took the car and headed to L.A. But she never showed up. A few hours ago, P.D found her car at the bus station. They requested a CSI."

"She took the bus instead. Case solved," Nick smiled smugly at Sara, causing her to laugh.

"Hopefully, you're right. But until she's located, treat her car like a crime scene," Grissom told Nick as he handed him the assignment paper, "And Kadelin. No running off this time."

"Damn it. He saw through my plan," Kady grumbled playfully, causing everyone to laugh hysterically.

"Please?" Grissom pleaded with the puppy dog pout and everything, causing Nick to smirk and snicker...which, of course, earned him the famous glare from his boss himself, Gilbert Grissom.

"OK, OK," Kady sighed.

"Attagirl," Grissom smiled at her before kissing her cheek and feeding her the last teaspoon of yougart.

"Come on, butterfly. Let's go. The sooner we get this solved, the sooner we can hang out," Nick stated as he tossed the apple at Sara and they left.

* * *

><p>Holy hell. That is a nice house! Well, we are in Summerlin. This is one of the richer parts of Clark County. Catherine and Warrick have finally arrived and walked up to the front door which Catherine knocked on. She took the opportunity to talk to Warrick about something.<p>

"Is everything OK? You've been quiet all night," Catherine pointed out.

"Yeah. I got a call earlier today from Child Services asking about you and Lindsey," Warrick announced, causing Catherine to shook her head in disbelief.

"I don't believe this," Catherine sighed.

"They told me they'd notified you – some investigation – that Eddie had made a charge or something," Warrick recalled.

"Yes. He's pissed off because I won't let him back into my life so he sticks Child Services on me," Catherine grumbled clearly upset, "I never expected they were going to talk to my friends. Well, what did they ask? What did you say?"

"Well, I...," Warrick started before the door opened.

"Hello," Richard Zeigler greeted.

"Hi. Sir, we're with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. We're here about a Paul Sorenson," Catherine told him.

"I'm Richard Zeigler. Cops told me you were coming. Here. Please. Come in," Richard invited.

Catherine and Warrick thanked the guy before walking inside while he held the door open for them. Once they were inside, Richard lead them to the living room before pointing to the wall in front of them.

"Well, this is, uh, where the Sorenson was displayed," Richard said.

"Sorenson is a painting," Catherine realised.

"Paul Sorenson was an artist. Early 1900s," Richard explained as he walked up to the empty wall as Warrick put his kit down.

"How dumb are we?" Catherine laughed with a shrug.

"What's he know about the forensic analysis of a friction ridge?" Warrick asked.

"Right on!" Catherine cheered.

"I think I may have surprised the guy while he was stealing it. I came downstairs to read and I heard a noise. By the time I got to the room, he was gone. But the door was open," Richard explained.

"Why don't we dust for prints?" Catherine suggested as she and Warrick reached into their kits.

"Mr Zeigler, one more thing. What about the security alarm?" Warrick questioned.

"Somebody disengaged it," Richard answered.

Warrick nodded his head, causing Richard to just walk away.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Warrick immediately asked Catherine.

"Oh yeah. Inside job," Catherine nodded before proceeding to dust the wall, "So...was it a disaster with Child Services?"

"Disaster? What do you mean?" Warrick demanded as he helped Catherine dust the wall.

"Well, my job does take me away from my daughter. Nobody knows that better than you," Catherine stated.

"Yeah. But you think I'd say that?" Warrick scoffed disbelievingly.

"Well, not intentionally," Catherine sighed, "They just, you know, know how to ask questions."

"Are you finding anything?" Richard asked as he walked back into the room.

"We're working on it, sir," Catherine reassured him.

* * *

><p>"Your young woman from the mountains," Doc Robbins introduced as he showed Grissom and Sara their latest dead body.<p>

"Do we know who she is yet?" Grissom wanted to know.

"I gave her prints to homicide for ID. There's the blanket she was wrapped in. Whoever she is, last day on earth was not pleasant. .38 caliber gun. Flush to the scalp. Shot clean through. Right to left. Bullet out the other side," Doc Robbins explained.

"Stellate pattern and beveled wound confirms the proximity of barrel to scalp. No question this was an intimate killing," Sara stated.

"'Full of sound and fury signifying,'" Grissom reciting before noticing the look Doc Robbins was giving him, "What, Doc?"

"I took these," Doc Robbins told them as he showed them the x-rays.

"Let's see what we have. Fracture to the nasal bone, orbital bone, mandibular...all facial fractures," Sara gasped.

"Typical for battered women," Doc Robbins began to realize.

"These aren't fresh, are they?" Sara asked.

"The old fracture lines indicate this woman was in a long-term abusive relationship," Doc Robbins announced.

"Any idea how long she's been dead?" Sara questioned.

"The elements really got to her. Grissom and his insects are going to have to figure that one out," Doc Robbins sighed before noticing Grissom removing a bug from the body, "Have we lost you, Grissom?"

"'The worms go in. The worms go out. The worms play pinochle on your snout,'" Grissom quoted. **(AN: By the way, that quote is from an old nursery rhyme called 'The Hearse Song.' Never heard of it myself. I just thought I'd add the source of the quote because Grissom doesn't actually say what nursery rhyme he recited.)**

"Shakespheare again?" Sara guessed.

"An old nursery rhyme," Grissom corrected.

"A very special insect, Dr Seuss?" Doc Robbins asked.

"A muscid fly – typical only in urban areas," Grissom announced.

"But you found her in the mountains," Doc Robbins stated, earning a smile in agreement from Grissom himself.

* * *

><p>"How many people have access to your home – keys and security code?" Catherine asked.<p>

"Just my wife and my two sons and, uh...my daughter," Richard answered.

"Can you get them all over here? They might be able to help us with the evidence," Catherine told him.

"Hey, Catherine! Check this out!" Warrick called as he showed Catherine something interesting, "You see that?"

"Helix, antihelix, helix rim, tragus, antitragus," Catherine stated.

"I think the thief must have pressed his head against the wall to check if the painting was wired," Warrick said.

"Come on. An earprint?" Catherine laughed.

"Hey. A jury convicted a first-degree murderer based on a print just like this two years ago," Warrick retorted.

"Yeah. I know. I know. I'd like to see that one on appeal," Catherine remarked, "Well, photograph and lift. We'll have someone to compare it to soon enough."

* * *

><p>Seriously, Grissom. What is it with you and hanging bugs on your pinboard? Seriously! Well, at least this one is related to their current case. Anyways, Sara walks into his office. In her hand is the preserved beetle in the container, the one that was filled with the officer's hot coffee.<p>

"OK. Bear with me. I mean, you're one of ten guys in the country that understands this stuff," Sara started.

"I think there's at least 15," Grissom corrected, "But go on. What don't you get?"

"Insects arrive at a corpse in a specific order, right?" Sara asked.

"Like summer follows the spring," Grissom answered with a smile.

"And you can pinpoint time of death based on the tupe and age of insects present on the body?" Sara questioned.

"I watch the insects mature from eggs to larvae to adults and then count backwards," Grissom explained as Brass began to linger in the doorway.

"Linear regression," Sara realized.

"How old are those creepy crawlers?" Brass wanted to know.

"They're not done maturing yet," Grissom told him.

"Oh," Brass said in disappointment.

"But when they are, I'll be ale to tell you how old they were when I found the body," Grissom reassured him.

"Which will tell us how the woman died," Sara added.

"I ID'd her body through AFIS and located her husband," Brass announced.

"Let me guess. Downtown? The Fremont District?" Grissom guessed, causing Brass' face to fall.

"You know, I'm not even going to ask," Brass decided.

"Synthesiomiya nudiseta is the Latin name," Grissom pointed out.

"It's a muscid fly. Only breeds in urbon areas but Grissom found one on our girl which means she was probably killed downtown and then carried into the mountains," Sara clarified.

"Well, the neighbours heard a gunshot at their apartment five days ago. The 'grieving' husband? His name is Scott Shelton," Brass read from his notes.

"What was her name?" Sara asked after a moment.

* * *

><p>"Kaye screamed at me a lot. That's for sure. But I didn't kill her. In fact, I was out of town last week at a convention," Scott Shelton told them as Brass, Grissom and Sara interviewed him in the interrogation room.<p>

"Yeah. In New Orleans soaking up the gumbo. You told us. When was the last time you saw your wife?" Brass wanted to know.

"Five days ago. When I came back from my trip, she was gone," Scott answered.

"And you didn't think to notify the police?" Brass asked in disbelief.

"I keep my personal business private. If Kaye had left me again, I wasn't going to broadcast it," Scott said.

"So this neighbour lady who told me that she heard a gunshot and a woman scream inside your apartment...what? She just imagined it?" Brass guessed.

"It was probably our TV," Scott shrugged it off.

"Mr Shelton...did your wife drive race cars?" Grissom suddenly asked.

"You're kidding me," Scott laughed.

"No. The two most common causes of facial trauma in adult women: motor vehicle accidents and domestic violence," Grissom told him as he opened the file folder, "These are your wife's x-rays."

"Every face and neck fracture your wife has sustained over the last six years are highlighted," Sara said.

"Kaye can get wild. If I came home late with friends, I've wrestled her off me. I admit that," Scott lied.

"Three complaints against Scott for spousal abuse in the last two years," Brass retorted.

"Kaye was excitable. Like I said, I've wrestled her off me, **(Me: IT'S ALL LIES! Jason: *gags me*)**

"How about a gun?" Sara shot at him.

Scott looked at Sara before turning to Grissom and laughing, "You have your hands full with her."

"So do you," Grissom smirked.

"We're going to investigate your apartment. Do we need a warrent or are you going to play nice?" Sara asked.

"Come on over. I've got nothing to hide," Scott boasted.

"We'll be the judge of that," Sara retorted with a smirk.

* * *

><p>"Detective Secula," Nick greeted as he approached her with his kit in one hand and the hand of his three-year-old daughter in the other.<p>

"Mr Stokes," Secula returned, "Hey, Kady."

"What's up?" Nick and Kady asked.

"I still find that freaky how you guys follow each other's thoughts perfectly," Secula confessed.

"It's just how close we are," Nick shrugged it off as he put his kit down and pulled her daughter close to him to prove his point.

"Let me guess. You got stuck on this one too?" Secula changed the subject.

"Yeah. Well, missing person – could be interesting," Nick stated before sliding on a pair of latex gloves.

"Husband reports his wife missing and her car's at a bus terminal. Come on. Lady took a trip. Didn't want him to know where to. Not much of a mystery," Secula said.

"Auto unit been by yet?" Nick asked.

"No. We just slim-jimmed. We checked for a body. Didn't find one. Big surprise," Secula sighed.

"Yeah," Kady said.

"No. I didn't touch a thing," Secula answered Nick's silent question.

Nick just nodded at her before quietly telling Kady to stay back. When he made sure she was a good distance away from the car but still in his sight, he opened the car door and looked inside.

"Secula...something wrong?" Nick had to ask as she looked inside the car over his shoulder.

"We had dinner last week. I thought it went great. You never called," Secula responded.

"That doesn't mean I wasn't going to. I mean, I have my work and I'm a single father to my baby. Time does slip away from me," Nick defended as he opened the trunk and found some hair inside, "Is our missing person a redhead?"

"Yeah," Secula nodded.

"Call in a tow to the CSI garage. This case is now officially interesting," Nick announced before he felt tugging on his pant leg.

He looked down and saw Kady standing there with his camera. How she got it out herself, he didn't know. Well, Greg teaches her how to pull some awesome pranks and some words that she's not meant to be hearing. Sara teaches her how to write some pretty awesome words. Grissom teaches her how to read. Nick teaches her some important life lessons. Warrick teaches her how to draw crime scene sketches. The lab techs teach her how to work in their labs. But Catherine teaches her how to work crime scenes as a CSI. He assumed she taught her.

"Thanks, butterfly," Nick thanked as he kissed her head and took the camera from her.

* * *

><p>"It's just like a fingerprint...for your ears," Catherine explained to the entire Zeigler family.<p>

"Now wait a minute. Are you thinking one of us did this?" Richard asked.

"Well, there's no forced entry. Someone shut off your alarm. That tells us that we eliminate the family first before we widen our investigation," Catherine explained.

"I'll tell you what. I'm not putting that crap on my ear," Troy Zeigler denied.

"Well, we can get a warrent," Warrick offered.

"Oh no. Nobody's getting a warrent against this family. We'll humor them and get this over with," Richard decided as he rose to his feet.

"Thank you, sir," Catherine thaned as Mrs Zeigler removed her earring.

"Tell me what you want me to do," Richard requested.

"You're a good sport," Catherine complimented.

"I'm just going to press this against your ear. See?" Warrick said as he pressed the glass against Richard's ear before showing him the print.

When they had done everyone, they began to dust the ear prints on the glass panels. When Catherine was done dusting the print of Lisa Zeigler, she blew the remaining dust off the glass. One by one, they compared each sample to the earprint on the wall where the painting used to be. The family waited eagerly behind them. They wanted everyone to be cleared of the theft. They wanted it to be no one in their family. However, Catherine was going to dash their hopes.

"We got a match," Catherine announced as she showed the match, "What do you think?"

"Jason?" Warrick called.

"What?" Jason demanded.

"The earprint talking," Warrick remarked.

"Why would you steal from me?" Richard wanted to know.

"Sir, are you going to want to press charges?" Warrick asked.

"No. No. God no. No. I just...we'll get help for Jason," Richard swore, "I don't want court records."

"Jason, do you still have the painting?" Catherine questioned.

"What if I told you I sold it?" Jason wanted to know.

"Well, that would be selling stolen property and you would be arrested. No matter what your dad says," Catherine answered.

"OK. Painting's in the trunk of my car," Jason immediately told them.

* * *

><p>"Can I get you guys something to drink? Soda? Ale?" Scott offered.<p>

"No, thanks!" Sara called back.

Now, Sara, Grissom and Brass are at the Shelton residence searching for anything related to Kaye's murder. Brass just walked along the perimeter of the room. Grissom is checking underneath the cushions of the couch. Sara is checking out the items on the wall shelves. Immediately, she noticed that most of the photos and items on the shelf are of him. Not Kaye.

"Not a lot of room for Kaye," Sara stated.

"She's shy," Scott said, earning a nod from Sara.

Brass knelt down next to the bed and found something that links Kaye's murder to the house. The 'something' is a holder containing some bullets. Scott saw Brass pick the holder up and look at him. Sara continued to look around the room while Grissom just stood there in the middle of the living room not doing anything.

"Does it get cold in here in the winter?" Grissom asked.

"Sometimes," Scott shrugged, "Why?"

"That's why you'd need a blanket on the couch, huh? A green on, I bet," Grissom remarked as he picked up some fibres on the couch.

"Looks like your gun's just been cleaned," Brass pointed out after he checked the gun.

"Yeah. I, uh, cleaned it before I left town. Took out the garbage, too. Does that make me guilty of something?" Scott asked in a flippant manner.

"No bullets missing here," Brass said as he checked the gun before picking up the bullet holder, "Bullets missing here, though."

"I fired them at the shooting range last month. I go there with a couple guys from work," Scott explained. **(Me: LIES! LIES! HE IS POISONING THEIR BRIGHT AND AGILE MINDS WITH LIES! LIES, I TELL YOU! LIES! Jason: *gags me...again* Nick: Thanks, man. Me: *muffled* Seriously?)**

"We're going to need to borrow your bullets," Grissom said.

That caused Scott to take a step back...or two. Grissom just looked around and saw Sara in the hallway. She slid on a pair of latex gloves and begins to check the floors and the walls. Grissom suddenly felt the need to check on Sara. So he did. He watched as she picked up a green fibre from the floor and place them with delicate care into a bindle. Those fibres are familiar to the ones Grissom picked up.

"This back door lead to your car?" Sara asked.

"To A car. I drive a different demo everyday. Perk of the dealership," Scott explained.

"You smell that, Grissom?" Sara said as she smelt something.

"Did you do laundry back here today?" Grissom inquired as he turned to face Scott and Sara began checking the floor for blood.

"I got news for you, Scott. Bleach doesn't make blood disappear. You just can't see it with the naked eye," Sara explained to him.

That was when Sara thought of something. If the floor was covered in blood, the wall is covered in blood. That was when Sara grabbed the luminol and sprayed the substance onto the walls. On every part of both walls she sprayed, red streaks shone like neon lights against the white base. Scott appeared to grow even more nervous as Grissom and Sara looked at him.

"I have no idea how that got there," Scott lied...AGAIN!

"It 'got there' when you shot your wife in the head before you wrapped her in a blanket and you dumped her in the mountains!" Sara reminded him in anger as she got up in his face.

Scott knocks her hand out of his face yelling, "Get your finger out of my face, bitch!" causing Sara to retaliate by pushing him back.

"SARA!" Grissom exclaimed as he pulled Sara against him and held her back from attacking Scott again.

"You touch me again, you draw back a stump!" Sara threatened.

"Look at her!" Scott shouted.

"Sara!" Grissom screamed.

"Can't you control her?" Scott asked them in disbelief.

"Get him out of here, Jim!" Grissom requested.

"I told you she was a handful," Scott smirked.

"Come on," Brass said before leading him back into the main room.

"You don't know a handful!" Sara called out.

"Hey. Hey. What's the matter with you?" Grissom demanded.

"I am a woman. And I have a gun. And look how he treated me. I can only imagine how he treated his wife," Sara practically sobbed before walking away.

* * *

><p>"Thank you," Catherine thanked as the clerk put the forms in front of her and Warrick walked in carrying the painting.<p>

"Hey," Nick greeted as he walked in with Kady in his arms.

"Hey! There's my favourite goddaughter!" Warrick cheered as he took Kady from Nick's arms into his own, "Oh God! I've missed you!"

"Join the club!" Catherine pipied in as she hugged Kady herself, "So hows it going?"

"Good, good. Are you putting one of the drawings Lindsey and Kady did together into evidence?" Nick asked playfully as he looked at the painting, causing his friends to laugh.

"If only the artwork they do together brought in this kind of dough. You and I wouldn't need to worry about their college tuition," Catherine remarked.

"Yeah. I heard your missing person was a painting," Nick smirked.

"At least we solved our case," Warrick retorted cheekily.

"Oh! Geez! Way to wound a guy's pride there, Warrick! Especially in front of my baby!" Nick pretended to groan in pain, causing Kady to giggle.

"Keep walking," Catherine smiled.

"Sure," Nick laughed before taking Kady in his arms again, "But I'm taking my kid with me."

"Aw man!" Catherine and Warrick pouted.

"Hey! You wound the pride of a Stokes, you pay the price, folks," Nick smirked before walking away.

"What the-?" Warrick began asking.

"I know," Catherine cut him off.

"Give me an evidence tag for this painting," Warrick requested.

"Sure," the clerk nodded.

"OK. Now I know that these are rich people and it's just a painting and nobody died, but...this just doesn't feel finished," Catherine sighed.

"I know. Everytime you say that, I'm looking at more overtime," Warrick remarked.

"I know," Catherine agreed before Warrick's pager went off.

"You know what? I got to be somewhere," Warrick announced.

"Court?" Catherine guessed.

"Yeah. Right. Can you handle this from here?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah," Catherine nodded.

"Good. I'll see you later," Warrick said before walking away.

"Hey, Warrick!" Catherine called out, "Are you going to tell me?"

"What?" Warrick demanded.

"About Child Services?" Catherine pressed.

"Oh. I told them as far as mothers are concerned, you're the bomb," Warrick answered.

"Really?" Catherine said.

"Yeah. And I also told them your ex is pretty screwed up," Warrick added, causing Catherine to smile, "No worries."

* * *

><p>"What do we need to nail him at trial?" Sara asked as she, Grissom and Brass discussed their case.<p>

"The neighbour puts him in the apartment five days ago. You tell me she's been dead five days and a jury is going to jump all over that coincidence," Brass promised.

"The post-mortem insects will tell me when she was killed," Grissom reassured them.

"No. All I'm saying is five days is what I need," Brass remarked.

"Jim, please don't try to compromise my end of the investigation," Grissom pleaded.

"Good luck," Brass wished.

He handed Sara the evidence bag before leaving the two CSIs to their work. Eventually, Grissom and Sara went down different hallways. Grissom in one direction. Sara in the other.

* * *

><p>In every case, everybody has their own methods. In one way or another, each method always contributes to the case. Doc Robbins is the medical examiner. He examins the body properly and gives the CSIs the actual time AND cause of death. Greg's the go-to guy for DNA analysis. He always compares DNA samples on weapons and blood to the victim andor potential suspects. Grissom's the bug guy. He's always able to determine what bug it is, where it's from and how it's pertinent to their case. Nick's the emotional guy. He's not afraid to connect with the victim's families and it helps them find out things about the victim and any of his/her associates. Sara's the determined one. She stops at nothing to put the bad guy behind bars at the cost of her personal life. Catherine's the go-to girl for blood spatter. She's able to analyze how the blood spattered and always finds clues in the blood evidence. Warrick has the smarts. He has knowledge about the underworlds of gambling and Las Vegas that help his fellow CSI with every crime scene. Brass is the Beckett to their Castle. After he sees the evidence, he goes out of his way to have them arrested for the crime they have committed. Like a canery, it sings.

That's exactly what Grissom, Sara and Doc Robbins are doing. They look at the body, the bugs, the evidence and everything just falls into place. But not every crime falls into place right away.

"The bullets from Scott's gun are unusual," Sara announced, causing Grissom to look up from his bugs, "Since we didn't find the spent bullet, I sent one from the box over to trace. Everything else stacks up. He killed her. What did you get?"

"She's been dead for three days," Grissom sighed, shocking Sara to the core.

"Are you positive? Not five?" Sara demanded in shock.

"Three," Grissom nodded.

* * *

><p>"My client was in New Orleans three days before his wife's body was discovered on that mountain. He couldn't possibly have killed her. Unless I misunderstad what you've explained to us, Mr Grissom – your 'linear regression,'" the public defender sneered as Grissom, Sara and Brass presented their findings to Scott and his attorney. <strong>(Me: Again. I HATE LAWYERS! Whoops. I probably shouldn't say that. Nick: Why? They cause us nothing but grief. Me: My uncle's a lawyer. Nick: Ohhhhh... Me: Shiiiitake mushrooms.)<strong>

"You understand it," Grissom retorted.

"OK. Forget time of death. How does your client explain Kaye's blood all over his apartment wall?" Sara asked.

"Quite simply. Scott has three prior complaints for abuse. What's to say the blood didn't get there during one ofthose altercations?" the public defender smirked.

"'Altercations'...upgraded from 'wrestling'?" Sara said.

"This is good. Admitting to prior abuse to cover up actual murder," Brass remarked.

"My client and I are leaving," the public announced as they stood up, "And, Mr Grissom, thank you."

With that said, Scott and his lawyer finally left the room. Good riddence, might I say! The entire time, Sara watched their departure carefully. When the door finally closed, Sara finally fell forward and rested her head against the table. All Grissom could do is sit there and watch her frustration seep through her emotional cracks.

* * *

><p>"Hey. Tough break about the, uh, wife abuser getting released."<p>

Speak of the devil. I'll give you three guesses as to who is approaching Grissom in the hallways. If you are guessing Conrad Ecklie, you would be correct.

"There's no secrets around you, are there, Conrad?' Grissom sighed.

"You think I wanted you to whiff out on that? Your reputation as an entomologist elevates this entire crime lab which elevates my stature by association," Ecklie boasted.

"Well, then, you must feel very small today...by association," Grissom smirked before walking away...until Ecklie stops his tracks.

"You're dropping the ball in other areas, though. Administratively?" Ecklie asked.

"Did I miss one of your status meetings?" was all Grissom replied with.

"Warrick Brown had one of my guys sub for him in court," Ecklie told him quietly.

"So? I'm sure something came up," Grissom sighed as he went to leave.

"Hey. He told my guy it was an emergency but I have it on good authority that he was gambling!" Ecklie shouted at him, causing Grissom to stop in his tracks again, "At the Monaco."

"What?" was all Grissom could get past his mouth.

"That's right. On CSI time. I don't like him using one of my guys as a cover. I figure if he brings anybody down with him, it should be from your shift. Don't you think?"

With those final words said, Ecklie turned around and left. Grissom just stood there shocked. Warrick had promised that he wouldn't get drawn into that world again. That he would recover from his gambling addiction. That he would stop gambling for Kady's sake. What in the world would cause Warrick to go back down that road? What is drawing him back into the clutches of the demons that reside in the City of Sin?

* * *

><p>Inside the break room the next day is another cute sight. And sadly, it's not involving Nick and Kady. Well...it does involve Kady. But this time, her cute moment's with Sara. Sara is lying on the couch fast asleep with Kady snuggled into her chest. Sara had a protective hold around her goddaughter. The kettle near them started whistling. The sound and the feeling of Kady stirring against her was enough to slowly wake up Sara. Well, that and Grissom's voice calling Sara's name.<p>

"Sara? You OK?" Grissom asked softly.

"Fine. Yeah," Sara nodded as Kady slowly fell back to sleep, stopping Sara from getting up.

"Did you sleep here?" Grissom asked worriedly.

"I was working till 4am. I combed every demo Scott's driven. Zilch. What's up?" Sara whispered.

"I need you to do some background for me on Warrick without letting him know why," Grissom announced.

"Oh, Warrick – your favourite CSI," Sara sighed bitterfly.

"That's why I want you to handle it. So that Ecklie can't accuse me of favortism if it turns out that Warrick's clean," Grissom explained as he lightly stroked the honey brown curls framing Kady's face.

"What do you want to know?" Sara asked with a sigh as she subconsciously tightened the hold on her sleeping goddaughter.

* * *

><p>"This painting's a forgery?" Warrick exclaimed in disbelief, "Where does it say that?"<p>

"I was reading up on Sorenson. And I found a site that says that 15% of all museum art is fake," Catherine explained.

"It's not our job to authenticate art. Case is closed," Warrick reminded his dear collegue/close friend.

"You're so right. But if this is a forgery, we've got a new crime," Catherine announced.

"This electrothermal atomizer is set at the excitation wavelength for titanium which was not used in oil paint before the 1950s," lab tech Jessica Lovett explained to Warrick and Catherine.

"So, an authentic Sorenson would be titanium-free," Catherine summised.

"If it's present, the canvas will fluresce and we've got a forgery. Hit the lights," Jessica requested.

The lights were turned off and Jessica turned her machine on. As she waved it around the entire painting, every single colour and detail was fluorescent. That confirmed Catherine's suspicions to begin with.

"Mm-hmm. No doubt about it. It's a fake," Jessica announced as they turned the lights back on.

"OK. So if the owner purchased this painting from a reputable auction house, they would have run a similar test to this?" Catherine asked.

"Absolutely," Jessica nodded.

"So, the kid stole the original painting from his pop and gave us back a forgery," Warrick summised, "No wonder he copped to it so easily!"

"The kid's in college, right? Let's check his dorm room," Catherine suggested.

* * *

><p>Detective Secula began walking into the garage at CSI. When she did, she saw Nick vacuuming the back of the car. So she went up behind him. Immediately, she noticed that Kady was missing. Eventually, Nick noticed her and turned the vacuum off.<p>

"There's no more hair. Not even a trace. No signs of foul play," Nick sighed.

"And the carpet's clean," Secula added.

"Yeah. Yeah, too clean. Which begs the question...," Nick pondered.

"What lies beneath?" Secula finished his thought before looking around, "Where's your kid?"

"Good question," Nick agreed as he ran around the garage looking for his daughter, "I don't get it. She's always running off. Why does she do that? Does she not love me or something?"

"She loves you more than anything in the world. In fact, she told me you're her best friend," Secula smiled at him, causing Nick's heart to swell in pride, "One thing I know about three-year-olds: they're energetic. And never should be confined to one space. So she's probably burning energy."

"Wait a second," Nick realised something, before heading to one of the cupboards, "What is that? Your favourite hiding place?"

"Maybe," Kady giggled as her daddy scooped her into his arms and spun her around, "Hey, daddy. With the car, there might be blood."

"You do have a point. Hey, Secula. Could you hand me the phenothaline, please?" Nick requested kindly as he placed Kady on the ground, "No running off."

"You're checking for blood?" Secula guessed.

"Well, I am checking to see why someone scrubbed this carpet so clean. If there is blood present, we know why," Nick explained to Secula as he took a sample with the swab and poured some drops of the phenophaline on it. It tested positive for blood, causing Nick to smile.

"Looks like our missing person might be a homicide," Secula remarked.

"Right," Nick and Kady agreed.

"Hey," Sara greeted as she appeared in the doorway of Grissom's office and leaned against the doorframe.

* * *

><p>"Did you find out anything about Warrick?" Grissom immediately asked.<p>

"Uh...I'm-I'm here about something else. You...you know how you say 'We're the victim's last voice'?" Sara started, earning a hum from Grissom, "I thought it was our job to speak for Kaye Shelton."

"You don't crunch evidence to fit a theory," Grissom repremended her.

"What if you wear the victim's screams? In the car? At the store? When you're spending time with a three-year-old goddaughter that we share? Something the two of us have in common? The reason we are able to stay sane with this job?" Sara retorted.

"You have empathy for her, Sara. You want someone to pay for what was done to her. That's normal," Grissom reassured her.

"You want to sleep with me?" Sara blurted, causing Grissom to freeze.

"Did you just say what I think you said?" Grissom demanded.

"That way, when I wake up in a cold sweat under the blanket, hearing Kaye's screams...you can tell me it's nothing. It's just empathy," Sara clarified before walking away.

Grissom remained frozen. What Sara had said shocked him to the core. He always knew there were certain cases that would make Sara emotional. He didn't know why they would, though. But he always knew they would. That was when Grissom remembered something from Sara's speech. Then it occured to them. There was something they had missed.

Moments later, in the evidence vault, Grissom took an evidence bag and emptied it of the contents inside: the blanket Kaye was wrapped in when they found her dead. Slowly, he opened the blanket and began examining it. He was looking for anything. Anything they could've missed.

And that moment was when this crime finally began to fall into place.

* * *

><p>"So you planning a little late-night luau? Roast pig?" Brass remarked as he saw Grissom prepare an experiment outside in the crisp night air.<p>

"It's an experiment," Grissom clarified, "Maybe Kaye was dead five days."

"I thought your bugs never made mistakes," Brass recalled.

"They don't. People do. The victim was wrapped in a blanket. Normally, a blanket or clothing doesn't impact insect maturation. The insects usually fight their way in anyway. But I examined the folds in Kaye's blanket. She was wrapped tightly – maybe tighter than I realized – which would have decreased teh corpse's exposure to insects," Grissom explained.

"So it took longer for the insects to get in there?" Brass summised.

"And deposit their eggs," Grissom added, "Maybe two whole days. I've wrapped Porky here pretty tight."

"Well, let me ask you this. You killed a pig just for this?" Brass asked.

"This poor ham was already on its way to someone's Christmas dinner table," Grissom defended.

"I mean, wouldn't a rabbit be easier?" Brass wanted to know.

"Got to be a pig. Interestingly, they're the most like humans," Grissom remarked.

"Yeah. I've been saying that since I was a rookie. You're on your own, pal," Brass remarked before walking away.

As the time went by, Grissom was recording every moment Porky was outside wrapped in a blanket. He wrote every single change into his log book. Even snapped photos of the bugs on it. As he worked he wrapped his jacket tighter around him as the night air grew crisper and cooler. Sara walked up to him with an very appreciative smile on his face. She sets her kit and bag down and took a seat next to Grissom. After he removed his glasses, Sara handed him the thermos. He uncapped the thermos and sipped the deliciously warm coffee inside of it. Sara opened the fresh blanket she brought along and wrapped it around his shoulders. All Grissom did was look at her and smile.

"Thanks," Sara whispered.

* * *

><p>"How's the case going?" Secula asked as she walked into the office to see Nick give Kady her juice.<p>

"Hey. Dead end. Here you go, honey," Nick sighed as he kissed Kady's head, "How about you?"

"Just got a hit on one of our missing lady's credit cards. A motel," Secula announced as she, Nick and Kady headed out into the hallway.

"Her abductor sold her card or is using it himself. What hotel?" Nick wanted to know.

"Four Aces," Secula answered.

"That's right around the corner from where we found her car," Nick realised.

"I've got some uniforms meeting us there," Secula told him.

"Good job," Nick complimented her with a smile.

* * *

><p>"Las Vegas Police!" an officer exclaimed as they barged into the motel room at the Four Aces.<p>

Immediately, Nick froze at the sight and covered Kady's eyes with his free hand as he hoisted her higher onto his hip. She definitely should NOT be seeing this. After all, she's only three years old.

"Alright! Don't move! Put your hands where I can see them!" the officer demanded.

Nick glanced at Secula next to him who just doesn't say anything.

"Are you Sheryl Applegate?" Nick asked.

Before him is a woman handcuffed to the side of the bed. She could only nod. Some chaos could be heard as the officer pushed a man named Michael out of the bathroom into the motel room. The only article of clothing he is wearing is the towel wrapped around his waist.

"Oh! Whoa, man! Ow! Oh, what's going on here?" he demanded.

"Michael, shut up!" Sheryl yelled at him.

"Las Vegas Police. Your husband reported you missing," Secula explained to her in amusement.

"Can she put that gun away?" Sheryl pleaded, causing Secula to place her gun back into the holster.

"You, uh...you haven't been abducted, have you, Mrs Applegate?" Nick asked just to be sure.

"No really," Sheryl shook her head.

"We found evidence of blood in your car," Nick announced.

"I saw an injured dog last week and drove it to the vet," Sheryl explained.

"Uh, Nick, let's get out of here," Secula suggested as they cleared their throats and went to leave.

"Wait! What are you going to tell my husband?" Sheryl questioned.

"That you're OK. You're going to have to fill in the blanks," Nick laughed before leaving and uncovering Kady's eyes, "We never speak of this to anyone. Deal?"

"Deal," Kady agreed as they did their little secret handshake.

* * *

><p>"So the pig's insects matured at a rate consistent with a five-day-old corpse?" Seriff Brian Mobley summised as he glanced at the photos of the pig before him in Grissom's office with Grissom and Sara present.<p>

Grissom nodded and added, "Once I took the blanket into account."

"Your initial computations were wrong. You went back, adjusted conditions and proved actual time of death," Brian went on.

"Five days. Not three," Grissom corrected.

"Which places the victim with her husband who's already guilty as sin," Sara piped in.

"Captain Brass, do you understand Grissom's insect evidence?" Brian asked.

"To a degree. You know...in a general way," Brass nodded.

"Do you think a jury will understand your adjustments? Or do you think they'll realize your conditions can make the evidence say anything you want it to say?" Brian questioned.

"I can make a case to any jury against Scott Shelton for the murder of his wife. I swear on the life of my beautiful goddaughter," Grissom swore.

"And you and I both know that he loves Kadelin more than anything in the world. Trust me. You'd better take his word for it," Sara suggested.

"But your arresting officer can barely understand it. I read the file. Other than bugs, is there anything else?" Brian asked, earning a shake of the head from Grissom, "Get something a jury can understand or move on."

With that said, Sheriff Brian Mobley left the office.

* * *

><p>"Hello," Richard greeted as he saw Catherine and Warrick at his front door.<p>

"Hello, Mr Zeigler," Catherine replied before showing him the painting.

"Oh, good. You brought my Sorenson," Richard sighed in relief as Jason watched inside the house.

"Yes," Catherine nodded.

"Good. I'm glad it's back," Richard remarked.

"Nice campus you got there, Jason," Warrick suddenly changed the subject, catching Jason off guard.

"What?" Jason stuttered.

"We were by your dorm earlier with the police there," Warrick announced.

"We'd like to ask a favour of you, Mr Zeigler. A private viewing of the painting," Catherine requested kindly.

Just like Jessica did at the crime lab, Catherine tested the painting to see if it was the forgery. Being a massive art collector, Richard immediately recognized the test and was shoced by the results.

"My God. My-my...my Sorenson's a forgery?" Richard stuttered in disbelief.

"That's not all, sir," Warrick said.

"Wait. I have $10 million worth of forgeries?" Richard gasped.

"No, sir. The police recovered your originals from Jason's dorm room today," Warrick announced.

"WHAT?" Richard boomed before turning to Jason who just stood there quiet, "I don't even know you."

"What? Did you have an art major do your fakes for you, Jason?" Warrick asked.

"Robbery checked with your school. They actually teach classes in how to copy the Masters," Catherine explained.

"My friends helped me out. They didn't know what I was doing with the originals," Jason confessed.

"And what exactly were you doing?" Richard demanded.

"Your son stole all your originals, replacing them with forgeries," Warrick started.

"But, the other night, his little scam was interrupted. He didn't have time to make the switch. If the hook hadn't dislodged from your Sorenson, you would have spent the rest of your life admiring fakes," Warrick finished.

"And you never even knew the difference, did you, dad?" Jason laughed, "You're right. You don't know me. Where are your pictures of me? You're too busy staring at your masterpieces, and they're not even real! I'm right here, dad! You don't even see me!"

"The police are going to want to know if you're pressing charges this time," Catherine told Richard.

Richard didn't even bother to think twice about whether to charge is own son or not. He just nodded.

"I am. You want my attention, Jason? You got it," Richard promised.

* * *

><p>"I heard you were going into an autopsy. How can you just move on to another case? They're laughing at us. You know that, right? They think we're a couple of 'science nerds'. They threw out our findings!" Sara exclaimed, clearly upset.<p>

"That body should be up in a few minutes, Mr Grissom," David told Grissom.

"Thank you, David," Grissom thanked before turning to Sara, "You know, there was a murder recently in a village on the other side of the world. Every man in the village denied having any part of it. The victim's throat had been slashed with a shovel. So this one guy – I guess you can call him a 'science nerd' – asked all the men in the village to bring their shovels to the centre of the town and hold them spade-side up. And he waited. Eventually, flies started showing up on one specific shovel looking for microscopic bits of blood and flesh."

"First witness to a crime," Sara nodded.

"The investigator got his murder. And...," Grissom trailed off.

"And forensic science was born. Sung T'su, 1235 A.D. You call 800 years ago recent?" Sara asked in disbelief.

"To an astronomer, it is," Grissom retorted, "But then people forget about forensic science, didn't they? And they had to be reminded again by Francesco Redi in the 1600s."

"And again by Bergeret D'Arbois in the 1800s," Sara added.

"Every civilization learns what it needs to know and the next one forgets it. The sheriff...well...it's not personal," Grissom said.

"We're part of the cycle," Sara realized.

"Yeah. They laughed at fingerprints 70 years ago. And now, it's law," Grissom stated.

"Except somebody had to push for prints," Sara reminded him, "And you're standing there saying 'all things in their own time.'"

"You're confused, right?" Grissom asked.

"Yes," Sara nodded.

"My body's here," Grissom announced as the Coroner's Assistant wheeled the gurney between Grissom and Sara and Grissom lifted the sheet.

"Kaye Shelton," Sara smiled.

"Shall we?" Grissom asked before they went inside.

* * *

><p>"Gave her a bath, huh?" Sara questioned as she, Grissom and Doc Robbins worked on the body.<p>

"Routine cleaning. We had to do it sometime," Doc Robbins remarked.

"Doc, what's this blue mark here?" Grissom suddenly asked as he saw the blue mark around her bullet wound.

"Why didn't we see this at the autopsy?" Sara demanded.

"It was under a gallon of blood. But the blue's embedded. It won't wash away," Doc Robbins explained.

"Didn't you say the suspect's ammunition was in trace?" Grissom suddenly asked Sara.

"Yeah," Sara nodded before leaving to follow it up.

* * *

><p>"Lead, copper, zinc, teflon...," Sara read the results out loud before finding something odd, "Teflon?"<p>

That was enough for Sara to take out a bullet and look at it...and eventually test fire it. Against a target. Sara walked up to the target to check out the hole the bullet left. There was blue residue. The same as the residue on the victim. Sara looked at this in a scope and smiled. When Grissom walked into the lab, all she did was point to the scope.

"And? So?" Grissom demanded.

"Strand of hair from our lady in the mountains. The blue dust from around her entrance wound – that's from the bullet's impact. It's made of teflon. Now look at the next specimen," Sara instructed before Grissom moved onto the next scope, "The bullet is from Scott's personal ammo supply which I test-fired. See? The teflon disintergrated into blue powder at the moment of impact."

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_You're gonna leave me? Is that what you think?" Scott boomed._

"_No, Scott, no!" Kaye screamed._

"_And all the guys are gonna see a woman walk out on me?" Scott asked in disbelief as he grabbed her from behind._

"_NO! SCOTT, NO!" Kaye pleaded._

"_You just try...," Scott gritted before shooting her in the head._

_When she fell to the floor dead, Scott grabbed the blanket off the couch and wrapped his wife's dead body in it. This action left a small piece of fibre on the hallway floor.  
><em>_End flashback_

"You did very good," Grissom complimented, causing Sara to beam, "But this is just more circumstantial evidence. We're a long way from a conviction."

"But we can bury him under evidence. You're the one who's always saying it's better to have one piece of forensic evidence than ten eyewitnesses," Sara retorted,

"What? Do you tape everything I say?" Grissom smirked, "You still have to educate the jury."

"On bullets. It's got to be easier than bugs. Less Latin," Sara counter-attacked, causing Grissom to smile.

* * *

><p>"You know, I've been waiting three days to do this," Brass remarked as he placed the handcuffs on Scott, finally able to arrest him for the murder of his wife, "No. Make that five days. Let's go."<p>

With that, Brass escorted Scott Shelton out the door. Grissom watched the arrest from the sidelines. The public defender just stood there looking at Grissom.

* * *

><p>As Doc Robbins watched Sara carefully, she placed the sheet over Kaye Shelton once again before pushing her body back into storage. When she was done, Doc Robbins closed the door. He then went to write the note on the storage door.<p>

_**RELEASE FOR BURIAL  
><strong>__**DATE OF BIRTH: 9/24/72  
><strong>__**DATE OF DEATH: 12/13/00  
><strong>__**DATE OF RELEASE: 12/22/00**_

* * *

><p>"Hi," Sara greeted as she walked into Grissom's office.<p>

"Hi," Grissom returned.

"I checked out Warrick. His story about missing court was, uh...lame. I got this surveillance tape from the Monaco. He was in the casino. I'm sorry," Sara apologised as she handed the tape to Grissom.

"Thanks," Grissom nodded before Sara leaving the office, leaving Grissom with the surveillance tape in his hands.

* * *

><p><strong>All: <strong>_**There's a sad sort of clanging,  
><strong>__**From the clock in the hall.  
><strong>__**And the bells in the steeple, too.  
><strong>__**And up in the nursery,  
><strong>__**And absurd little bird,  
><strong>__**Is popping out to say coo-coo.  
><strong>_**Kady, Lindsey and Emily: **_**Coo-coo. Coo-coo.**_

**Me, Caitlin, Gizem and Jason: **_**(Kady, Lindsey and Emily: Coo-coo) Regretfully, they tell us,  
><strong>__**(Kady, Lindsey and Emily: Coo-coo) But firmly they compel us  
><strong>__**To say goodnight.  
><strong>_**Kady, Lindsey and Emily: **_**Coo-coo.  
><strong>_**All: **_**To you.**_

_**So long. Farewell.  
><strong>__**Auf Wiedersehen. Goodnight.  
><strong>_**Caitlin: **_**I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.**_** *leaves***

**All: **_**So long. Farewell.  
><strong>__**Auf Wiedersehen. Goodnight.  
><strong>_**Jason: **_**Adieu. Adieu to you and you and you... **_***leaves***

**All: **_**So long. Farewell.  
><strong>__**Au revoir. Auf Weidersehen.  
><strong>_**Me: **_**I'd like to stay and taste my first champagne.**_** Yes?  
><strong>**Nick: No.  
><strong>**Me: *sulks and leaves***

**All: **_**So long. Farewell.  
><strong>__**Auf Weidersehen. Goodbye.  
><strong>_**Gizem: **_**I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye. Goodbye.**_** *leaves***

**Lindsey: **_**I'm glad to go. I cannot tell a lie.  
><strong>_**Emily: **_**I flit. I float. I fleetly flee. I fly.  
><strong>_***they leave***

**Kady: **_**The sun has gone to bed and so must I.  
><strong>_**All: **_**So long. Farewell.  
><strong>__**Auf Weidersehen. Goodbye.  
><strong>__**Goodbye...  
><strong>__**Goodbye...  
><strong>__**Goodbye...**_** *we leave***

**Audience: **_**Goodbye...**_


	12. The I 15 Murders

**I-15 Murders: A middle-aged woman is abducted from a local supermarket. When inspecting the bathroom, Grissom finds a message on a stall door that makes him suspect that this has happened before. Despite their personal differences, Warrick and Sara have to work together when an apparent robbery goes wrong and a man finds his brother murdered in his own apartment. Meanwhile, Kristy Hopkins (from the pilot episode) finds herself in trouble again after getting into a fight with a hotel security guard and she calls on Nick to rescue her.**

**Next, Fahrenheit 932: A man is awaiting trail for starting an arson fire that killed his wife and son. Claiming he is innocent, he calls on Grissom to help him. Now it is up to Grissom, Sara and Warrick to clear him, especially when they learn that Day Shift supervisor Conrad Ecklie did sloppy work. In another investigation, a teenage 'runner' is shot to death at close range and Nick and Catherine have to figure out who killed him and what circumstances had lead to his death.**

**Then, Boom: A bomb goes off in an office building, resulting in the death of a security guard. Grissom, Sara and Warrick launch an investigation to find out the bomber. And their prime suspect is an over-helpful fellow security guard who also has the knowledge to build a bomb. Meanwhile, Nick's career and his future with Kady are on the line when he spends the night with Kristy Hopkins and she is found murdered hours later. Things only get worse when Nick's DNA and fingerprints are at the crime scene and Ecklie is the lead on the case. And when Ecklie takes Kady away because Nick is the primary suspect in her murder, Catherine only has a short amount of time before Ecklie arrests Nick for a murder he didn't commit!**

**Later, To Halve and to Hold: A single bone is discovered in the desert. Grissom, Catherine and Nick have to piece together the skeleton and figure out what happened to their victim. Whilst they do that, a male stripper dies not long after performing at a bachelorette party, leaving Warrick and Sara to find out who and what killed him.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Table Stakes  
><strong>**Too Tough to Die  
><strong>**Face Lift  
><strong>**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler (Season 1 finale)**

**REVIEW REPLIES!**

**JennaTN: **_**Great chapter.**_

_**Kady seems so adorable and I love how you have them all intereact with her.**_

**Thanks, Jenna! I'm glad you liked the chapter. I've been trying to make Kady as adorable as possible and I'm glad I got that right. And since I've had Nick named Catherine, Warrick, Sara, Grissom, Greg and Brass her godparents and they work together, it'd be kinda wrong if I didn't make them interact with Kady. Speaking of which, I found a link of a photo of what Kady roughly looks like. When I've posted this chapter, I'll post the links up (I had to find a seperate link for Kady's hair colour). Thanks for the review!**

**Caitlin: **_**Another fabby chapter!**_

_**PS: (Love how someone in the little song has the same name as me :D)**_

_**xx**_

**Glad you liked it! That was a pretty hard one to write since Nick wasn't in it as much. Nicky, I may love you, but you make giving you a daughter difficult! And Emily, Caitlin and Gizem are potential OCs. I actually named them after my three best friends from school. And one of them is named Caitlin. haha! Small world. Thanks for the review!**

**Oh! One question! Did anybody see the season 12 premiere of CSI? I saw it online yesterday. It...was...AWESOME! Although, I don't like how Catherine had a go at Nick at the end and blames him for both their demotions. HEY! DON'T BLAME IT ON NICKY, CATHERINE! D.B Russel seemed pretty funny. I think we can all like him. I can't believe a lot of people judged it by its cover. Nice to see Morgan join CSI Las Vegas. Looks like there could be a potential romance between Greg and Morgan. Wait. Greggy, don't even go there. She's the daughter of the Undersheriff. When Kady's older, you two are gonna be pranking him. A LOT! Whoops! Probably shouldn't have said that...**

**HEY! WE HAVE A PREVIOUSLY ON CSI SEGMENT! Hadn't had that since...the third episode, I think. Scenes from both the first episode and the previous one. Nicely done, my CSI friends. Nicely done... OK. That just felt weird and I'm normally the queen of weird.**

**Well, as usual, I don't own CSI. I only own Kady. If I did own CSI, we'd be having a lot more scenes where Nick is shirtless. You know what I'm saying? George Eads is smoking HAWT! Great. Whenever I see that, my best friends think I have issues and that he's ugly. Maybe because for them, he's old. Hey! You can still be hawt when you're old! And George Eads isn't THAT OLD!**

**Another question for you guys: Do you guys think that George Eads is smoking hawt or is it just me?**

**ENJOY! (And there goes two pages again. I seriously need to stop rambling...)**

* * *

><p><em><span>Previously on CSI...<span>_

"_May I see your discoloration?" Nick asked._

"_You wanna give me twenty bucks?" Kristy Hopkins smirked._

"_You wanna do time?" Nick retorted._

"_You know what? I got to be somewhere. Can you handle it from here?" Warrick asked._

"_Yeah," Catherine nodded._

"_Warrick Brown had one of my guys sub for him in court. But I have it on good authority that he was gambling!" Conrad Ecklie called after Grissom._

"_I need you to do some background for me on Warrick," Grissom whispered to Sara._

"_Warrick? Your favourite CSI," Sara sighed bitterly._

"_That's why I want you to handle it. So Ecklie can't accuse me of favourtism," Grissom explained._

"_I got the survelliance tape. He was in the casino. I'm sorry," Sara apologised to Grissom._

"_Manager to register two, please. Manager to register two._"

Oooh, Marty's Market. I hear they have good bargains there. Maybe that's why this woman is shopping here. I mean, Las Vegas. Good bargains. Something you don't wanna miss out on. Looks like she's stacking up on some fruit and vegies. Hope she threw in some green apples in there. Mama loves her green apples. ...you did not just hear that. Oooh, buns! You think she'll be making hot dogs? Looks like it. She's heading for the Sun Valley mustard bottle. Ugh. Mustard. Uh-oh. Spaghetti-oh. Looks like she broke the bottle.

* * *

><p>Hey! What's Brass doing here? And why is Grissom approaching him with his kit? Why are they heading to the aisle where that lady dropped the mustard? Oh... Shi...take mushrooms. Something bad has happened. I mean, why else would they be here?<p>

"Well, if it isn't the boss himself! Where's your E-street band? And where's my favourite goddaughter who's four years old in a month?" Brass asked, causing Grissom to smile and laugh.

"They have another gig. And Kady's with her daddy, as usual. Hey. Four years old. Don't remind me. I still think it was yesterday when Nick walked in the waiting room looking all proud when he brought newborn Kady out to meet us. Not as she is today: nearly four years old and eight months shy from starting school," Grissom laughed, "How you doing, Jim? How's your old job?"

"Ah, I can sling scum all day long," Brass sighed, "You?"

"I curse more," Grissom confessed.

"Hopefully not when Kadelin's around. Well, wait. The shopping cart's over here. The missing woman is Margaret Shorey. Lives with her sister. Went out to get groveries. Never came home. Car's still in the parking lot," Brass explained.

"And her purse is still in the car. With no wallet," Grissom stated as he checked out the purse.

"Maybe she left the purse as a marker," Brass shrugged.

"Chicken soup. Ice packs. Pain reliever," Grissom observed the contents in the shopping basket.

"Sister broke her wrist in a car wreck," Brass told him.

"Hot dogs. Hot dog buns," Grissom contineud.

"Junk food junkie," Brass summised.

Hey! Lookie what we have here! Do you remember earlier how Margaret accidentally dropped that bottle of mustard? Well, look at that! Some of the mustard landed on the trolley. To get a closer look, he bent down and grabbed a dollop of it on his finger. He smelt it...and ate it. Brass couldn't help but look disgusted.

"Oh, that's sanitary," Brass remarked sarcastically.

"Mustard," Grissom said before turning to the store manager, "Did you have any mop-ups in this aisle today?"

"Yeah. Yeah, as a matter of fact, we did," the store manager nodded.

"Life holds no surprises," Grissom sighed as he took a bottle of mustard from the shelf and gave the store manager money from his wallet, "$1.98 for the mustard...plus my two cents."

That was when Grissom dropped the bottle of mustard the same way Margaret did moments ago. And it spilled all over the floor...and the cuff of Brass' pants. Whoops. Sorry, Brass!

"What are you doing?" Brass demanded.

"Now, where would you go?" Grissom asked him calmly.

* * *

><p>The answer to that question? The bathroom. Where else? As Grissom walked around the bathroom, Brass sat on the basin trying desperately to wash the mustard off his pants.<p>

"Oh man," Brass groaned. Oh come on! We said we're sorry!

"Hey, Brass, look at this," Grissom requested.

"What?" Brass wanted to know as he approached him.

"You see this?" Grissom asked as he held the bathroom stall door open.

"See what?" Brass demanded as he saw...well, nothing.

"This circumference? Looks like somebody did a brillo job on it," Grissom remarked.

"All I see is a clean door," Brass confessed.

"You know anything about this?" Grissom questioned.

"Yeah. He's right. We cleaned it up today. I had a complaint. Kids are always writing crazy stuff on bathroom doors. So I had one of my employees scrub it off," the store manager explained.

"Could I borrow a hammer?" Grissom suddenly requested.

Grissom had brought the bathroom stall door back to the lab with him. Obviously, something about this stall door has sparked his interest. Brass holds the light as Grissom took photos of the message underneath it. Later, Grissom had taken photos of each and every word on that stall door and is piecing them together on the board. Eventually, it fell into place. But there was something about the message. Something that tells him this isn't the first time. That...Margaret Shorey wasn't the first victim of this event.

"Iv'e killed 5 women. Catch me if you can?" Grissom read.

Who is doing this? What is happening? When did the other women disappear? Where has this happened? Why is this happening? How do they do this so many times? Are they even still alive?

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Gary Dourdan  
>George Eads<br>Jorja Fox  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

"B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-BATMAN!" Greg Sanders sang as he jumped into the break room.

"You are so lucky Grissom's not here," Sara Sidle remarked as she shook her head at her giggling goddaughter.

"Hey. Being able to make Kady giggle? I wouldn't care if I had to face a thousand Grissoms," Greg scoffed.

"Hi, Uncle Gil!" Kady greeted as she pointed to the door, causing Greg to jump and scream like a girl and remove his Batman mask, "Ha! Made you look!"

"Hey. We've got a little prankster on our hands here!" Sara proclaimed as she hi-fived Kady.

"Very funny," Greg grumbled as he slid the Batman mask back on and glared at her playfully.

"Hi, Uncle Gil!" Kady squealed excitedly.

"Ah! First rule of pranks, Kadelin: never try the same trick twice," Greg repremended her.

"Hello, Greg."

"AAHH!" Greg screamed like a girl again, causing everybody (except Grissom) to laugh.

"Or should I call you Batman?" Grissom smirked.

"Oh, uh, I-I-I was just, ummm, you see... I'll be in DNA," Greg said as he ran out of the room.

"Might I say, Kadelin? That was nicely done," Grissom complimented.

"OK, butterfly. I need you to cuddle Aunty Cathy for a moment. Daddy needs a moment to recover," Nick Stokes gasped as she handed Kady to Catherine Willows and tried to recover from his laughing fit.

"Are you good now?" Grissom asked patiently.

"Yes," Nick immediately nodded.

"Well, I can't stay long. I have to jet. Sara Sidle: 419," Grissom announced as he handed Sara the assignment sheet.

"Dead body – bonus," Sara smiled.

"Whoa. Somebody likes their job," Catherine remarked.

"Nick Stokes: 416. Fight at the Bellagio. She saus she's a 'friend' of yours," Grissom explained.

"Ex-girlfriend, Nick?" Catherine teased affectionately.

"Well, that depends. Was she the assaulter or the assaultee?" Nick asked.

"You tell us. You like leather or lace?" Sara smirked.

"No. I'm not even going there," Nick chuckled before heading to the door, "Lace."

Sara smiled widely at him. Nick smiled back, but it was hidden under his daughter's soft curls as he hid his face in her hair as he walked out.

"Catherine, you have a 418 – an abituary on a stall door. I'll meet you in the garage. But first, I've got to take care of Warrick," Grissom announced.

"Oh no. What are you going to do?" Catherine asked as she stood up and gathered her things.

"I don't know," Grissom sighed as she left.

"I filed my report," Sara told him.

"I read it," Grissom reassured her.

Immediately, Sara knew she wasn't going to get anymore out of Grissom tonight. You know how people say they're either an open book because they're so easy to read or a closed book because they're impossible to read? Grissom's a bit of both. There are times where he's an open book and other times where he's an unsolved mystery himself. Sara just rolled her eyes and left.

* * *

><p>"Hey," Grissom greeted as he saw Warrick in the locker room.<p>

"Hey. I missed assignments. I know. I'm running late," Warrick sighed as he got dressed, "What did I pull?"

"How was court the other day?" Grissom asked Warrick as he walked into the locker room.

"I handed it off to Michovitch from days. Uh, I told Sara," Warrick shrugged his boss off.

"Yeah. Because you had, uh 'personal business'," Grissom recalled as he looked at the file in his hand.

"Yeah," Warrick agreed as he turned around...to be greeted by Grissom with the file and video tape, "What's that?"

"You...at the Monaco casino," Grissom announced.

"What? I don't believe this. Now you're pulling up film on me?" Warrick scoffed in disbelief.

"Casinos tape everyone who walks through their door, Warrick. You know that. I thought we had a deal," Grissom sighed.

"We do!" Warrick defended.

"Look. What you do on your time is nobody's business. What you do on my time is my business," Grissom told him.

Warrick sighed and sat down before saying, "I was at the casino. But I wasn't gambling."

Grissom thought that this would be interesting. So he sat on the bench next to Warrick and listened to his friend as he explained what truly happened in the casino and why he ditched court to go to the Monaco in the first place. When he was done, all Grissom could do was sit there feeling nothing but guilt. As a CSI, he's not meant to judge any part of the case before the fact. Guess what he did? He judged the reasons behind Warrick missing court to go to the casino before the fact.

* * *

><p>"OK. Rubio's Restaurant," the officer said as Sara and the photographer walked in.<p>

"Get me a picture of the body, the items on the bedsheet, the window, the drafting table; everything on the floor," Sara instructed the photographer as she set her kit down and approached Kenny Berlin, "Sara Sidle. Crime Scene Investigation. And you are?"

"I'm...Kenny Berlin. That's my brother. I'm the one who found him," Kenny sobbed.

"Sorry for your loss. You wanna tell me what happened here?" Sara asked.

"I don't...I don't know. I came...I came walking in through the door. I saw my brother lying there...stuff everywhere. All I could think was that...," Kenny trailed off tearfully.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_SMASH! The robber broke the window and climbed into the house from there. He began tossing the room. He's looking for something. For what, we don't know. Valuables are my best bet. However, he didn't get the chance to leave with anything he intended to leave the place with._

"_HEY!"_

_That would be because the victim, later identified as Jeff Berlin, interrupted his little escape. So he did what any bad guy would do. Leave no witnesses. So he grabbed his gun and fired. When the bullet struck him, he fell to the ground. That's how his brother found him moments later. Lying on the ground with a bullet hole or two in his torso. Dead._

"_Hey, Jeff?" Kenny called to him._

_That was when he realized what was going on. He looked at his brother's body and the mess surrounding him. Then he reached for the phone and dialled 911.  
><em>_End flashback_

"I-I called 911. And then you guys showed up, and...," Kenny trailed off.

"Thank you," the detective thanked him and he and Sara moved to the side, "There have been several burglaries in the neighbourhood. All benign."

"Nothing benign about two $20s screaming 'Take me!' on the bar," Sara remarked.

"Maybe he missed it?" the detective shrugged.

"Yeah, well, it's hard to miss all that high-tech computer equipment. There's got to be five, ten grand there. First thing I'd take," Sara said.

"He was interrupted," the detective reminded her.

"Before or after he used a bedsheet to transport the silverware? Pillowcases are the norm. You know that. Something's not right," Sara sighed before walking away.

* * *

><p>"Gentlemen, I'm Nick Stokes. I'm here for the 416. Something about a special request," Nick announced as he walked up to Officer Pratt carrying both Kady and his kit.<p>

"Don't ask me. Go ask Catherine Zeta Jones over there," Officer Pratt retorted.

"Over where?" Kady asked, causing Officer Pratt to point in a direction.

"Thanks," Nick thanked before approaching the woman, "Excuse me...ma'am?"

The woman turned around to face them and Nick and Kady recognized her immediately. The woman is Kristy Hopkins! The difference is: her hair's shorter than it was when they first met.

"Nick, Kady, hey," Kristy greeted excitedly.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Nick and Kady exclaimed.

"Oh, you probably don't recognize me with the short hair. My nipples are all better. You wanna see?" Kristy asked. **(Everyone: HELL NO!)**

"Yeah, yeah, Kristy Hopkins. What are you doing here?" Nick wanted to know.

"I'll tell you what she's doing here – she's cruising!" the security guard interuppted.

"NO! I'm in here, minding my own business shopping for a dress spending my hard-earned money!" Kristy started, before noticing the identical looks Nick and Kady were giving her, "OK. Semi-hard-earned money. You know, I find that so freaky! Anyways, like I said, I was spending my semi-heard-earned-money. When Squiggy over here starts harassing me saying he doesn't want my type in here. He grabs my arm, cops a feel then he spit on me. So I slugged him!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. He spit on you?" Nick repeated in anger. _Wait. Why am I angry over that? It's not like I have a thing for her...do I?_

"I don't like you very much," Kady said to the security guard.

"Wait. You're not listening to this? This is such a crock!" the security guard exclaimed.

"Oh, I'll show you...!" Kristy retorted before a massive verbal argument between them errupted.

"Alright! Alright! Break it up! Ease up! Ease up!" Nick yelled, only to find that didn't work.

"HEY!"

Nick almost dropped his daughter in shock. So he settled with settling Kady on the ground and holding his ear. Officer Pratt, Kristy and the security guard were doing the same thing...the holding-their-ears part, I mean.

"Whoa! Geez, baby, my hearing is something I don't wanna lose," Nick remarked as he rubbed the area behind his ear.

"Sorry," Kady apologized as she shuffled on her spot innocently.

"What are you sorry for? I'm actually thankful you did what you did," Nick smiled at her as he ruffled her curls.

That only lasted for a little while. The security guard and Kristy started having goes at each other again. Officer Pratt grabbed the security guard and Nick pulled Kristy to his chest. He found himself feeling something; something he hadn't felt since his beloved wife died nearly four years ago. But it couldn't be, could it? He swore he would never love another after her. However, it seems that his heart has other plans.

"Hey! Hey! I'm pressing charges! I don't care who you know!" the security guard announced.

"Kristy!" Nick yelled.

"What?" Kristy yelled back.

"They're right. I've got to take her in," Officer Pratt told them.

"Just give me a minute, will you? Kady, stay here. Kristy, get over here!" Nick requested as he pulled Kristy to the side, "I need your shirt."

"Why is it everytime we meet, you're wanting me to take my clothes off?" Kristy asked him with that look.

"Because everytime we meet, you put yourself in a position where you have to take them off," Nick retorted before he took off his shirt **(A lot of the ladies (including me): *sighs dreamily* Nick: *flexes his muscles* Ladies: Ooooooh... Jason, Warrick and other males: Seriously?)**, "Here. You can put mine on afterwards."

"Why can't I just walk around like this?" Kristy demanded as she referred to her current state, turning Nick on.

"Because my three-year-old daughter is here and I do not need her to see you like that," Nick reminded her.

* * *

><p>"Using your arms – how big's a whale?" Sara asked before Kenny indicated with his arms, "Now freeze. Don't move. Up."<p>

Sara repositioned his arms to suit for what she has to do...which is examining his clothes. This freaked Kenny out just a little bit.

"What are you doing?" Kenny wanted to know.

"Checking for blood spatter," Sara answered casually.

"What blood? Am I a suspect?" Kenny demanded.

"This is what I do. This is how I eliminate you as a suspect," Sara explained.

"I'll take that for you," the officer offered as Sara handed him the torch.

However, Sara found something interesting in his clothes. On the cuff of his pants, to be exact. So an idea began to form inside her intelligent head.

"Well, that's good news. No blood, bud," Sara announced before placing the sample of what she found into a bindle, "I am going to need you to strip though."

"Right here?" Kenny stuttered.

"Don't be shy on my account. But if you are, this nice detective will accompany you to the bedroom," Sara offered before placing the bindle in her kit and standing up, "Oh, and, uh, I'm going to need to take your window with me, too. It's all in the warrent."

* * *

><p>"The person who wrote this is left-handed," Dr Rambar announced to Grissom and Sara as he analyzed the photos of the stall door Grissom took.<p>

"And we know that because...?" Grissom wanted to know.

"The 't-bar' in 'catch'? It's left-tending. And uneducated...the contraction in 'iv'e' is misplaced. Then we have the large arched hood in the letter 'y' and the arches in the bottom of the 'l's. This indicates criminal tendency which is supported by the heavy pastiosity which suggests low impulse control," Dr Rambar explained.

"Heavy pastiosity?" Catherine repeated in confusion.

"The pressure – how firmly you put pen to paper," Dr Rambar clarified.

"Or marker to metal. Do we know anything else?" Grissom asked.

"Yes. Overall, the handwriting is cursive and round. This tells me it was written by a woman," Dr Rambar answered, taking both Grissom and Catherine by surprise.

* * *

><p>Back inside the Berlin residence, Sara started cutting the window out of the wall with a saw. Behind her, Warrick walks up and puts his bag down. Oooh. Sara's not going to like this...<p>

"Damn! Taking the whole window," Warrick remarked.

That caused Sara to turn around and look at him in disbelief, "Grissom reinstated you."

"And you have a problem with that," Warrick stated.

"Let me guess. Grissom gets you to dime yourself off and now you both feel better? You're supposed to be in court. Instead, you're placing bets for a cheap thrill to satisfy nothing," Sara had a go at him.

"Hey! This has nothing to do with you!" Warrick snapped at her, "So are we going to work together? Or not?"

"I'm already working," Sara retorted before resuming her work: cutting the window out of the wall.

* * *

><p>"You weren't in your office," Sara said abruptly as she walked into the lab Grissom's working in.<p>

"And good morning to you, too, Miss Sidle," Grissom greeted sarcastically.

"Warrch has a problem. Ignoring it isn't going to make it go away. You asked me for a report and then you disregard my recommendation!" Sara sighed in frustration.

"I read your report," Grissom defended.

"So you feel comfortale jeopardizing a unit to placate an addict?" Sara asked.

"I see the whole puzzle, Sara. You're only seeing one piece," Grissom retorted.

"Then at least take him off my case," Sara pleaded him.

"No. I trust him. Do you trust me?" Grissom asked.

"Grissom!" Catherine called excitedly as she skipped into the lab...until noticing that Sara was there, "I've got something you'll want to see."

Grissom quickly looked at Sara, cleared his throat, grabbed his folder and walked away, leaving an angry Sara all alone in the lab.

* * *

><p>"You know how you're always pushing that holy trinity stuff?" Catherine started as she and Grissom walked the hallways.<p>

"Father, son, holy ghost?" Grissom asked.

"Victim, suspect, crime scene," Catherine corrected.

"That one, huh?" Grissom said.

"Right. Well, we don't havea victim. We don't have a suspect. All we have is a crime scene – the restroom at Marty's market with the message, 'I killed five women.' So, I figured there had to be four others," Catherine went on.

"You found the other victims?" Grissom began to realize what she was trying to tell him.

"No," Catherine shook her head, "I found the four other crime scenes."

They walked into the garage where they saw the five bathroom stall doors set up against the wall.

"Brass ran our case through VICAP. I made a few calls," Catherine explained.

"'Iv'e killed 1 woman' – Victorville. Salt Lake City – 'Iv'e killed 2 women. Catch me if you can?' San Bernardino – 'Iv'e killed 3 women.' 'Iv'e killed 4 women. Catch me!' – Mesquite. '...5 women...' Las Vegas," Grissom read.

"Five stall doors from five supermarket rest rooms. Five missing women, including Margaret Shorey," Catherine added.

"What else do you know about the crime scenes?" Grissom asked.

"Just like Marty's Market – there was no physical evidence indicating that the women were killed there," Catherine went on.

"What if we shuffle these doors like Pai Gow tiles?" Grissom suggested as he switched the doors around before stepping back and looking at it as a familiar picture formed in his mind, "San Bernardino, California. Victorville, California. Las Vegas, Nevada. Mesquite, Nevada. Salt Lake City, Utah."

Eventually, Catherine realized what he was getting at.

"Interstate 15. God knows I've driven it enough times," Catherine remarked.

"So has our suspect," Grissom piped in.

* * *

><p>"That was so not funny!" Greg scoffed as he and Kady sat on a board on the counter in the DNA lab.<p>

"Yes it was," Kady retorted, "Your face was funny."

"You know, Kadelin Taylor Stokes, you are too smart for your own good," Greg sighed as he tickled her slightly, earning a few giggles from his goddaughter.

"That's what daddy keeps telling me," Kady stated with a grin.

"Greg, please tell me you have something," Nick pleaded as he walked into the lab, "Oh, there you are, baby. I've been looking all over the lab for you. You ran off to Uncle Greggy again?"

"Always do," Kady beamed as she hugged her daddy and they kissed each other's cheek.

"Yes, dude. It's ready," Greg announced as he and Kady hopped off from the lab counter, "So this paper should have soaked up any foreign material on the shirt. Particularly amylase. *hands the paper to Nick and indicates him to hang the paper up* Now I've done this procedure on jeans and leather jackets but never on something like this. It's very see-through. Like Jennifer Lopez."

"Down, boy," Nick and Kady laughed, causing Nick to look at Kady.

"What can you tell me? Is there saliva on it?" Nick asked him.

"It's going to be a tough one to prove. This is only step one. You see, when a person talks, saliva naturally comes out of their mouth. Let's say that we're tossing back and forth, right?" Greg suggested.

"Gross!" Kady remarked.

"I know what you mean," Nick agreed.

"What can you tell me about the hottie that goes inside this blouse, huh? Is it true she's a friend of yours?" Greg asked.

"What? Is it on the internet?" Nick demanded.

"Might as well be. Just remember that: my saliva's getting on you. Your saliva's getting on me," Greg reminded them.

"GROSS!" Nick and Kady exclaimed at the same time. With the same facial expressions and everything.

"You know, sometimes I find the twin thing you guys have pretty cute. Other times, it's just pretty damning annoying," Greg remarked as he grabbed a spray pump.

"What's that stuff?" Kady asked.

"Starch and iodine. If this is saliva, we're going to get the old dalmation effect. So, Nick, uh, if I wanted to meet this friend of yours…?" Greg started.

"No," Nick immediately answered, causing Greg to mumble something inaudiable, "And do you even understand that stuff, Kadelin?"

"Yep," Kady nodded.

"I'm telling you. Too smart for your own good," Greg repeated as he sprayed the paper, "That's a pretty big spot. That's more than just a spray. In fact, looks like a distinct glob of spit."

"Then Kristy was telling the truth. But it doesn't mean it was the security guard's spit," Nick stated.

"Step three," Greg and Kady sing-songed.

"Well, the guy knows he did it. He's not going to cough it up," Greg pointed out.

"If you saw the girl that went with this blouse…you'd try," Nick smirked at him.

"Boys," Kady sighed to herself as she face-palmed, causing Nick and Greg to fall down laughing hard.

* * *

><p>"You found what in my pants?" Kenny demanded.<p>

"Glass. Any idea how it got there?" Sara asked.

"Well, it's just a guess but someone broke into my car last weekend and smashed my window and made off with my CD player. So I must've been wearing those pants," Kenny shrugged.

"Did you file a police report?" Sara questioned.

"No. But you can check with my insurance company," Kenny answered.

"I already checked with my lab. They do this test and guess what? The glass – it floated," Sara announced.

"You know what that means?" Warrick asked.

"No," Kenny replied.

"It means the glass on your pants and the glass from your living room window have equal densities," Warrick explained.

"Sorry. I was never very good at science," Kenny confessed rather sheepishly.

"The glass didn't come from any window. That's science," Warrick clarified. _You'd think that a fully-grown man would be able to figure this out when my three-year-old goddaughter can._

"Anything you'd like to tell us?" Sara pressed.

"Look. I walked in the house and I thought, 'They're coming back. And they're going to kill me too.' I heard a noise and I walked to the window. That must be when I got the glass in my pants. Look. Somebody really did break into my car, OK? And I just remembered all that stuff just now. So am I in trouble?" Kenny asked.

"You're free to go," Warrick answered.

"No. He's not," Sara disagreed.

"We're not cops. We can't hold him," Warrick reminded her.

"Just one more question. What do you do for a living?" Sara questioned.

"I'm a day trader," Kenny answered.

"You make a lot of money doing that?" Sara pressed.

"That's two questions," Kenny stated.

"Feel free to answer anyway," Sara said.

"Yeah. You can," Kenny replied before standing up.

"But you don't, right?" Sara pushed all the right buttons as he left the room without an answer.

"Showed him all your cards. Sucker play," Warrick remarked.

"I was playing him. Cops ran Kenny's financials. He lost a pot in the market. Had a ton of margin cells. I'm surprised you didn't tag him as a fellow gambler," Sara quiped.

"Oh, you just don't let up, do you?" Warrick sighed.

"It's a flaw," Sara smirked.

* * *

><p>"I'll flip you to see who drives," Catherine challenged Grissom as they met up in the hallways at the lab.<p>

"Where we going?" Grissom asked.

"Moapa," Catherine answered.

"What's in Moapa?" Grissom questioned.

"Besides the I-15?" Catherine smirked at him.

* * *

><p>"So my guys tell me that your guy Nick is helping a working girl at a five-star and it was quite a commotion," Brass remarked as he met up with Catherine and Grissom.<p>

"Really?" Grissom said.

"And if I know, it means a lot of other people know. People bigger than you and me. A kid from a crime lab doing favours for a hooker can't make the unit look too good, huh, boss?" Brass smirked.

"Yeah, well, I'll get into it," Grissom promised.

"I bet that's just what Nicky said," Brass retorted.

"You two ladies done talking? It's hot out here; even though it's the middle of winter," Catherine reminded them.

"That kid over there started to take a leak. Found the body," Brass explained as he pointed to the body they were to examine.

"Well, it's not Margaret. This one's a blonde," Catherine stated.

"And blue. This is bizzare. The body's cold," Grissom added.

"In this heat?" Brass scoffed in pure disbelief.

"And she's stiff; like a two-minute burrito that's only been nuked for a minute," Grissom remarked.

* * *

><p>"Meet Joan Sims from San Bernardino, California. We've been getting acquainted," Jenna said.<p>

"Missing woman number one – disappeared from a supermarket restroom last July," Catherine read.

"Cause of death was strangulation. I found ligature marks on the wrists and ankles. That was the easy part. This one's weird. Like I-may-use-her-in-a-lecture weird. Her decomp is completely backwards. It's supposed to begin on the inside but her organs are in better shape than her skin. Take a look at this. I took tissue samples from the heart," Jenna began explaining.

"Looks like the planet Krypton," Grissom commented upon first initial look.

"More like kryptonite," Jenna corrected, "Those are actually ice crystals, Superman. You wanna know why she's blue? Cold to the touch in the middle of the desert? This lady was frozen – kept on ice until approximately 12 hours ago."

"I-15? Refrigerated?" Catherine repeated.

"That's how she was transported from San Bernardino to Vegas – in a refrigerated truck. That's our crime scene," Grissom realized, "And it's mobile."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Nick. I've been looking for you. Hey, alligator," Grissom greeted as he hugged Kady.<p>

"Hi, tadpole," Kady returned.

"That girl you've been helping with the 416?" Grissom started.

"She got in a fight with a security guard," Nick explained.

"Is she a friend of yours?" Grissom blurted.

"Are you asking me what I think you're asking me?" Nick demanded, surprised and offended.

"Are you doing anything that could compromise the unit?" Grissom asked.

"I don't believe this. You've always been so cool," Nick sighed.

"I have to ask. Its part of the job," Grissom defended.

"Uncle Greggy ratted us out, right?" Kady guessed.

"Nope. Brass," Grissom corrected, "Do you wanna talk about this?"

"I don't think so," Nick shook his head before walking away.

"See you later, alligator!" Grissom called out after her.

"See you in a tad…pole!" Kady replied before they accidentally bumped into Catherine, "Sorry."

"It's OK, sunshine," Catherine reassured her as Nick carried her away, "What's his problem?"

"Me, I guess," Grissom shrugged, "Did you find out anything?"

"Brass got us a list of all the refrigerated trucks that made deliveries to the market yesterday," Catherine announced as she pointed out something to Grissom on the clipboard, "There's a female trucker on it."

* * *

><p>Wow. Nice hit, Warrick. You smashed that window pretty good! Wait. That's not the evidence, is it?<p>

"Not bad. I'm impressed," Sara smiled.

"Yeah. Passed up a chance to play semipro ball. Went to college instead," Warrick boasted.

"I meant the Haeckel marks. Should tell us what we need to know," Sara said as she picked up a sliver of the glass and showed Warrick, "This is the glass you line-drived."

"That's the glass you 'sawzalled'," Warrick added as Sara looked at the two glass edges in the scope.

"Right angles face the same direction. Take a look," Sara invited as she stepped aside.

"Oh, now I'm worthy?" Warrick sighed.

"Just take a damn look," Sara instructed impatiently.

* * *

><p>"That's crazy. I loved my brother," Kenny scoffed.<p>

"Maybe you did. Maybe you didn't. But we think you murdered him," Warrick announced.

"Based on what?" Kenny demanded.

"The evidence," Warrick answered.

"What evidence?" Kenny exclaimed.

"When a window is broken from the outside which is what a burglar would do, Haeckel marks form right angles to the inside of the window. But when a window is broken from the inside which is what a Peckerwood like you would do, Haeckel marks form right angles to the outside of the window," Brass explained.

"What did you use to break the window, Kenny?" Sara asked.

"I didn't use anything. I didn't do it," Kenny sighed, "I want a lawyer."

* * *

><p>"Well, we know he did it," Warrick said as he and Sara left the interview room.<p>

"We can't prove it. But we got a motive," Sara added.

"He needed the money," Warrick clarified.

"OK. Let's say killing his brother would get it for him," Sara suggested.

"We're back to how do we prove it," Warrick sighed.

"He's a day trader – spends all day on his computer. If we want to know more about him, that's where we should be looking," Sara stated.

"And the computer is…?" Warrick trailed off.

"Still at the house," Sara finished his sentence.

"Still at the house. Well, we got probably cause," Warrick pointed out.

"Why don't we go get a…?" Sara began asking.

"Why don't you go get a new warrant?" Warrick cut her short.

She nodded and they left the police department.

* * *

><p>Nick, without Kady surprisingly, walked to Grissom's office door and peered inside. He saw Grissom working at his desk not noticing his new arrival. Suddenly, something started singing above him.<p>

"_I wanna know. Can you help me? Help me?_"

That caused Grissom to look up and to see Nick standing there. Nick just looked up at the fish above the door. The tail was wagging at it sings. Hey. That looks so cool. I WANT ONE OF THOSE!

"That's my 'Big Mouth Bilyl Bass.' It's better than a watchdog. I got valuable stuff in here, you know," Grissom pointed out.

"_Drop me in the water._"

"Yeah. I bet there are a lot of people looking to steal your two-headed scorpion. Not to mention 'Miss Piggy,' Nick remarked as he tapped the jar of the preserved pig fetus, "Hey. Didn't you have that fish thing since your birthday before Kady was born?"

"It was a nice birthday present from your wife. The last one she'll ever give me," Grissom sighed, "The reason I kept it up there is because it always made Kady laugh when she was a baby. Speaking of whom, where is Kady?"

"She's pretending having a nap in the DNA lab with Greg. I thought about letting her have a nap in here so you can watch her. But Greg insisted," Nick laughed.

"And the reason for your visit is…?" Grissom pressed.

"I was out of line earlier. I'm not sleeping with her if it helps any," Nick confessed.

"It does," Grissom nodded.

"And, for the record, she wasn't working. She was shopping. And the security guard was a jerk, man. He pushed her around, then he spit on her. That's why she lost it," Nick explained.

"That sounds pretty straightforward. Why don't you put a rookie on it?" Grissom suggested.

"I can't. There's something about her. Looking at her. She doesn't have anybody else. I had Sanders run a test on the shirt. There's saliva on it, but the problem is: I can't get a match. The security guard refuses to give me a sample," Nick sighed in frustration.

"If Muhammad won't go to the mountain, then the mountain must go to Muhammad," Grissom recited, "Think about it."

* * *

><p>"Black. No sugar," Nick offered the security guard coffee in the CSI break room.<p>

"Yeah. Thanks," he thanked.

"Like I said on the phone, I don't want to seem biased here. This girl's nothing to me. She's a hooker,' Nick stated.

"Yeah. But you do know her," he retorted.

"Yeah. Professionally. But my profession, not hers. I cut her some slack a while back. She's bad news. But she's a babe," Nick remarked.

"Tell me about it," he chuckled.

"Yeah. Between you and me, I should have busted her. But I thought I might get lucky," Nick confessed.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Yeah. Next time she gets in a jam, she throws my name out. My boss: not pleased. So…tell me what you think," Nick said as he handed the security guard a pen and paper, "I want you to write down your own statement, seal it up in this envelope and I'll hand deliver it to the DA. It'll be good for both of us."

"Yeah. Thanks, man," he thanked.

"No problem. Us guys have to stick together, right? That's right," Nick remarked.

"That's right. Yeah," he agreed, "Do you have a wife at home?"

"My wife died almost four years ago. So it's always just been me and my daughter," Nick smiled sadly as he stroked the curls of his 'sleeping' daughter (Nick managed to kidnap her from Greg...and she's pretending to sleep so she can eavesdrop), "And, to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. Do you have any kids?"

"Just my daughter. But she lives all the way in Washington. She's in the Secret Service," he boasted, "What do you think your daughter's gonna be when she grows up?"

"One of two things: a famous singer or a CSI," Nick answered, "But then again, she's only three. So she has time to try new things and make her choice. I always tell her that what she wants to be is her choice. She doesn't have to be anything she doesn't wanna be. And that if she doesn't want to, she doesn't have to become a CSI. But then again, my wife was a CSI as well. So it runs in the family."

The guys continued talking and laughing as he wrote down his statement of what happened. The entire time, Nick kept a close eye on him. When he was done, he folded the statement and slid it into the envelope. He sealed it by licking the envelope. EUGH! GORCHY! Nick smiled as he did. Ha! You just gave us a DNA sample… When he left, Kady 'woke' up and she and her dad smiled mischievously.

"Nicely done," they both said as they hi-fived each other.

"Come on. Let's have some lunch," Nick suggested as he handed Kady a sandwich and her juice and they ate together like any other regular day.

* * *

><p>"Of course I graduated high school," a female trucker scoffed, "Hey. If this is going to take forever, I could lay a urine sample on you, too gratis."<p>

"A writing sample will be sufficient. Thank you," Grissom said.

"What's that going to tell you? Whether I was writing under the influence?" the female trucker demanded.

That was when Catherine walked up to her and handed her paper and something to write on, "Do yourself a favour."

"Yes, ma'am. Now what is it that you want me to write?" she asked.

"I've got a kite. Can you see the women? Kill the lights," Catherine recited.

"That's what you want me to write?" the trucker scoffed.

"Three times," Catherine nodded as she handed the trucker a pen and she moved aside, "Caucasian female with only a high school education and left-handed."

"You can keep the pen as a souvenir," Brass said to the trucker as she returned.

"I'll be right back," Catherine promised as she took the sample away.

"Hey! Come on! You're making me late!" she called after Catherine as she charged after her.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Brass yelled as he puts her back against the car, "Two cheeks on the car. There you go."

Everyone waited as Catherine faxed the writing sample over to the lab. Some people were patient. Others…well, I wish I could say the same.

* * *

><p>Back at the lab, Dr Rambar receives the fax from Catherine and began comparing the writing from the sample to the writing from the stall doors. He circled the key comparison points and held up the paper to the photos for proper comparison.<p>

* * *

><p>"OK. Thanks," Catherine spoke into the phone before hanging up and shaking her head, "She's not the one."<p>

"So did I win something?" the trucker asked.

"The right to keep on trucking," Catherine smiled.

"Here you go, bubba," Brass said as he handed her truck keys over.

"Hey! We're outta here!" the female trucker cheered.

"You know, I'm starting to think that maybe was should be looking for a man. Only three percent of multiple killers are female. And a woman wouldn't need a trophy. And a body on ice is definitely a trophy," Grissom remarked.

"Well, Ms Hard-Ass travels with her boyfriend. I bet you a lot of guys travel with their girlfriends," Catherine added.

"What if it was a man with a woman who would do anything he asked?" Grissom asked.

* * *

><p>In their SUV, Catherine and Grissom drive back into the LVPD parking lot. As they drove past, they saw Nick and Kady talking to Kristy next to her case. They bare good news.<p>

"'Us guys have to stick together, right?' He said, 'Right. You the man!'" Nick recited, causing Kristy to laugh while Kady acted it out next to him, "So I mean, I could have used an STR-DNA but it's too state-of-the-art. It's overkill. So I used a HLA-DQ A1 with a…polymarker.

"That's-that's very interesting," Kristy lied.

"You don't care about this at all, do you?" Nick smiled.

"No," Kristy chuckled, "But to be honest with you, all I really care about is whether the carges against me are going to be dropped. Are they?"

Nick and Kady smiled at each other evilly. Mentally, they were communicating with each other. That was when they punched the side of their fist into the palm of their hands, slapped the back of their hand, punched the side of their fist into their palm again, pointed behind them and hit their palm again with different symbols. Nick was sissors. Kady was rock. Nick groaned.

"Every single time," Nick pouted, causing Kristy to giggle.

"DA threw out the case," Kady announced.

"Great. So I can shoplift at that boutique again?" Kristy asked, earning that look from Nick, causing her to laugh and grab his shirt, "I was kidding. I was kidding. Besides, they never have any good sales there, anyway. I'd invite you out for coffee. It's probably a bad idea, huh?"

"Yeah," Nick and Kady agreed.

"Hey, honey. Why don't you go say hi to Uncle Gil and Aunty Cathy. I wanna talk to Kristy alone for a minute," Nick whispered to her.

"OK, daddy," Kady nodded as she hugged Kristy.

Immediately, Kristy bent down and hugged her back. The sight touched Nick's heart. Hey. Kristy might be a prostitute. But she's a prostitue with a heart of gold. You know what I'm saying? Nick began feeling something then. Something he hadn't felt since Abby died. That was when he realized what he was feeling. What he was feeling was love.

"You guys are really close. Closer than any other father-daughter couple I've met," Kristy complimented.

"My daughter's my best friend. But it's been hard sometimes. I mean, her mother died when she was born. So it's always been just the two of us. But I wouldn't have it any other way. She's the reason I do what I do. Why I'm a CSI. So I can make Las Vegas a safe place for my baby. So she can grow up without having to worry about some pedophile or serial killer snatching her off the street. I don't want Kady to grow up having to look over her shoulder all the time," Nick confessed.

"She won't have to grow up looking over her shoulder all the time because she has you. She has you to love her, to cherish her, to protect her; you're her rock. And something tells me she's your rock too. Already, she seems pretty strong. Those pedophiles and serial killers won't stand a chance against her," Kristy reassured him, "Maybe I can call you sometime. You know, just in case I ever get into trouble or something."

"Maybe you should try not getting into trouble. You do owe me one," Nick reminded her with a smile.

"I owe you two," Kristy corrected. **(Me: Should I or shouldn't I? Nick: Should! Jason: Shouldn't. Me: Meh.)**

That was when Kristy leaned in and kissed Nick on the lips quickly. Can anyone say fireworks? Nick pulled her to him and kissed her a little longer before finally letting her go.

"I'd make that kiss last a little longer. But we've got some spies," Kristy stated as she pointed to Grissom, Kady and Catherine watching the two with big smiles stretching their faces.

Nick rolled his eyes a little bit, his mind already forming a plan on how he would get payback later on. **(Me: See what I did there? Nick: Thanks for that. Me: You need a lady in your life. Jason: You do realize she eventually dies, right? Me: Please don't ruin it for him, Jason.)**

"You know where to find me," Nick nodded before they went their separate ways, "Alright. Whose idea was it to spy on me?"

Grissom, Catherine and Kady all looked at each other before pointed at each other. Kady pointed at Catherine and Grissom. Catherine pointed at Grissom and Kady. Grissom pointed at Kady and Catherine. Nick rolled his eyes and laughed at the antics of his friends and daughter. They love messing with one another. But they love each other to bits. What more could they ask for?

* * *

><p>"Is that right?" the detective spoke into the phone before hanging up and looking at Sara and Warrick, "Your boy Kenny just lawyered up.<p>

"Well, we got a warrant so that should give us the room for the night," Warrick pointed out.

That was when Sara found the computer. Immediately, she sat at the desk and turned it on. However, nothing happened. What the heck is going on here?

"There's something wrong with it," Sara announced.

"Computers turn on. When they don't, it's for a reason. Did you plug it in?" Warrick asked.

"The power light's on," Sara answered.

"Really? Let me check it out," Warric suggested as he opened the case to the unit and was surprised at what he found inside, "Well, he's a sneaky S.O.B. I'll give him that."

Sara stood up and looked inside. She, too, was surprised at what they found inside the unit. What they found inside…was a blast. Literally.

"Oh, no one is going to believe this," Sara remarked as Warrick snapped a photo.

"Alright," Warrick nodded as Sara picked up the gun and looked at the handle, "Let me see that flashlight. There's scratches all over it."

"Nothing really special about them," Sara shrugged.

"And the hotshot takes another strike. Check it out. Not enough to cause ehen a small scratch on your finger, but more than enough to use as a basis of comparison," Warrick stated as he took out the piece of glass stuck in the handle.

"We match this to the broken window, we got him," Sara announced.

* * *

><p>"One, two, three," Warrick counted as he and Sara dropped the glass into two different containers, "Left one is from the broken window. The other is from the gun. Both dropping at an identical rate. Glass is from the same source."<p>

"So, Kenny broke the window from the inside using the butt of the gun," Sara summised.

"My theory…the brother was the executor of the parents' estate. He controlled the family money," Warrick guessed.

"Sounds like more than a theory," Sara remarked.

"I called the county clerk. With the brother out of the way, Kenny is the sole beneficiary," Warrick announced.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Do you have any idea how much money I've lost?" Kenny boomed as he held a gun to Jeff._

"_Kenny, come on. What are you doing? I'm your brother, OK? I already said I'd loan you the money, OK?" Jeff promised him._

"_Come on! $20000? That doesn't even begin to solve my problems!" Kenny retorted._

_That was when Kenny fired the gun twice. Jeff fell to the floor dead. Kenny began freaking out. If the cops find out what happened, he'll be arrested for murder and he wouldn't be able to earn the money AND pay off his debts. So, in the hopes of drawing suspicion away from him, he grabbed the gun and broke the window with it. After trashing the place, he hid the gun in the computer.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Slam that jail door!" Warrick requested as he looked at Sara, "Makes you reconsider, doesn't it?"

"I never said you weren't a good CSI," Sara defended before walking away.

* * *

><p>"We're state-of-the-art here. Number one in vehicle satellite tracking. I can locate one or all of our trucks with just a click of a mouse. 247," the dispatcher boasted.

"Do you ever worry that technology is going to make us obsolete?" Grissom asked Catherine.

"No," Catherine responded firmly.

"Can you, uh, narrow your database? Say, eliminate all trucks that are not refrigerated?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Yeah. I think I can," she nodded as she worked the keyboard, causing some red dots to disappear.

"Can you eliminate all trucks that were not in Las Vegas yesterday?" Grissom requested, causing some red dots to disappear.

"Eliminate all trucks that only travel in state," Catherine instructed, causing more dots to disappear, "Now eliminate the trucks that don't deliver to supermarkets along the I-15."

A lot more dots disappeared. Now, they were only left with three dots on the screen.

"This is very cool," Grissom commented, "Eliminate all trucks that did not deliver to Marty's Market yesterday."

When the dispatcher entered the field condition, all the flashing red dots instantly disappeared. Except one.

"That's our guy. He delivered to all five towns – all five supermarkets," Catherine announced.

"Where is he now?" Grissom asked.

* * *

><p>Hello, hello, hello! Looks like we found our serial killer. Wanna know how I know this fact? Here's how I know for a fact…<p>

"POLICE! GET YOUR HANDS UP! COME OUT NOW!" officers were yelling.

"Police! Step away from the truck! Put your hands on the back of your head! Keep your hands in sight!" Brass demanded, causing a woman to climb out of the front seat, "Get out of the track!"

"Hands over your head!" the officer added.

"Step away from the track. Put your hands on the back of your head," Brass instructed.

"I'm just making my regular delivery," the male trucker defended.

"Don't make me ask you twice," Brass threatened, "Move! Hands on the back of your head! Hands on the back of your head!"

That was enough for the male trucker to dispose of the clipboard and obey his instructions. Well, Jim Brass is someone you do NOT want to mess with. And I've learned that the hard way… As they did their thing, Grissom and Catherine stepped out.

"Left hand on the wall. Right hand on the wall. Check him for weapons," Brass requested before approaching the truck.

"Spread your legs," the officer instructed.

"Hey! Get away from my truck!" the male trucker yelled.

"It's not your truck anymore. It's our crime scene," Grissom announced.

"Check the cab," an officer demanded.

Officers immediately followed Brass into the truck so they could clear it for their two CSIs. When they came out, Brass was holstering his gun. Yep. It's clear. The CSIs are all good to go. This will the interesting…

"It's all yours," Brass announced.

"All clear, sir!" the officer added.

* * *

><p>That was when Catherine and Grissom walked into the truck. Together, they weaved through the rows of large pieces of frozen meat hanging from the roof of the truck on hooks andor ropes. He notices one that is particularly long and thin compared to the other pieces of meat. So he proceeded to unwrap it, thinking that inside was one of the women taken from the supermarket. Sadly, that was not to be. It was just another piece of frozon meat. Catherine walked past Grissom and headed towards the back of the truck where the smaller refrigerator unit was located. Grissom immediately followed her. When they opened it, they gasped at the contents that greeted them inside. They found three of the four victims they still had to find. Well, they found Joan Sims and the other three victims. All four of them were found dead. Where's Margaret Shorey? Is she even still alive?

* * *

><p>"We've got three!" Catherine announced as she and Grissom walked out.<p>

"Where is she? Where is Margaret Shorey?" Grissom asked grimly.

"Screw you, man!" the male trucker sneered.

"Look, pal. I already know what happened. I even know your tupe – decent, trusting, middle-aged women," Grissom retorted.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Back inside the restroom at Marty's Market, Margaret was furiously scrubbing the mustard off her dress. That was when the truck driver's girlfriend ran in. Well, you gotta give her credit. She's a brillient actress._

"_Please help me. You got to help me! I locked my baby in the car!" she panted._

_"Did you call the manager?" Margaret asked worriedly._

_"It is so hot. She's going to die. Please help me!" she pleaded._

"_All…alright," Margaret agreed as she and the woman ran out of the bathroom towards the back of the market, "Where's your car?"_

"_This way," the girlfriend answered._

_That was when the male trucker jumped out from the crates and snatched Margaret from behind. Margaret began screaming, hoping someone would hear her. But with the strong hand over her mouth, she had no chance._

"_Go on! Write it!" he screamed at her._

_She was hesitant. Was she really willing to continue to ruin her life for the man she loved? Well, she's done it four times before. One more time wasn't going to make that much of a difference. So she ran back into the market restroom she lead Margaret Shorey out of. She removed the cap from the marker and started to write the message Grissom found on the walls.  
><em>_End flashback_

"OK. Alright, listen. The first one of you lowlifes can name that tune gets to make a deal. Hmm? The difference between the chair or life in prison. So…," Brass tormented them.

She looked around. Was she really ready to do the right thing? Well, she didn't want to spend a lifetime in prison. But she didn't want to end up on Death Row either. So, it was obvious what her choice was going to be.

"He made me do it," the girlfriend confessed.

The male trucker lunged at her. He couldn't believe that she had actually betrayed him to save her own skin. Well, in a group crime, when it comes down to it, self-preservation overrules everything.

"Cuff him," Brass requested before the male trucker was taken away, "Hey, hey, hey… Where is she?"

* * *

><p>Before they knew it, Catherine and Grissom were searching the front of the truck. Grissom crawled around inside and checked out the seats. Nothing there. So Catheirne and Grissom headed towards the mattress. Together, they lifted the mattress and found the deal-breaker.<p>

"There's a lock. Are there any keys?" Grissom asked.

"Try this," Catherine suggested as she handed him some keys.

The first key Grissom tried actually succeeded in unlocking the compartment under the mattress. They removed the lid and inside the compartment, they found Margaret Shorey bound and gagged. A little shaken and slightly bruised, but alive, nonetheless.

"Hello, Margaret. My name is Gil. This is Catherine," Grissom introduced.

"We're going to take you home," Catherine promised her.

* * *

><p>Back at the lab, Sara walked into the main reception area intent on something. When she walked into the waiting room, she saw a young boy holding a football sitting there alone. He appeared to be looking for someone. A certain CSI.<p>

"You look lost," Sara remarked.

"Oh…yeah. Do you know Warrick Brown?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. You want me to tell him you're here?" Sara offered.

"Oh, he's probably working. He works really hard. If you see him, could you just tell him that, uh, Jason says thanks?" Jason requested.

"OK. Will he know what for?" Sara questioned.

"Uh…"

"Hey, Jase. How you doing?" Warrick asked as he walked in carrying Kady in his arms.

"Better. 'Sup, Kady?" Jason asked as he and Kady hi-fived each other, "Hey, thanks for busting me loose. My mum said she'll pay you back."

"No. You'll pay me back, Shorty. Just don't be pulling anymore fire alarms," Warrick warned.

"Oh, I won't," Jason promised him.

"Gets you more attention than you want," Warrick remarked.

"I know," Jason laughed.

"You still working on those moves I show you?" Warrick questioned.

"Yeah. Every day after school. I do have a little lady to impress," Jason stated as he kissed Kady on the cheek in a brotherly manner.

"Hey. Don't even go there," Warrick threatened jokingly as he and Jason sparred for a minute or two, causing Sara to smile and Kady to giggle, "How about that? How about that right there? Good."

"Hey. I gotta go. My mum's waiting for me," Jason said.

"Hey, come here," Warrick requested as he bent over and placed his hand around Jason's shoulders, "Apologize to your mum, alright? Let her know she can trust you."

"Yeah," Jason nodded.

"Alright?" Warrick pressed.

"Bye, Warrick. Bye, Kady. Uh…see you next week," Jason said.

"See you next week, jaws!" Warrick and Kady called out after Jason as he left.

"So you went to the casino to win bail money," Sara realized.

"He needed my help. I didn't win anything, Sara. You're a CSI. You saw me enter a casino. Did you see me place a bet?" Warrick asked.

"You want to tell me you didn't?" Sara pressed.

"I don't have to tell you anything. Look. I went there to collect a debt that was owed to me. We're supposed to be working together. Next time, just try talking to me instead of going around behind my back," Warrick suggested as he and Kady walked away.

* * *

><p>"So you're not going to tell me?" Greg summised.<p>

"N. O. What does that spell? No," Nick answered.

"She's a ten out of ten as you would say," Grissom piped as he walked in, causing Greg's jaw to drop.

"OK. Here we go. You're gonna ask us to pull another double," Warrick sighed.

"Shut up. You'll jinx it," Kady repremended her godfather.

"She continues to amaze me everyday," Catherine commented.

"Nah. I won't make you pull another double," Grissom decided, causing everyone to cheer, "Come on. Breakfast on me."

"Maybe another time. Kady's pulled another all-nighter. And if I don't put her down to bed now, I'm gonna have a hard time keeping up with her all day," Nick sighed.

"Lindsey likes it when I actually drive her to school. I promised her I would today. I'm not breaking a promise," Catherine apologized.

"Jason's mother wants me to swing by so she can pay me back. And she works shift work as a nurse. If I don't swing by now, I won't catch her for a long time," Warrick explained.

"I have a breakfast date," Sara announced, causing Greg to wolf-whistle at her.

"I have reports and paperwork. The sheriff's giving me grief," Brass moaned.

"Ecklie's been hounding me like a dog for the DNA results on the cases from his shift. And you and I both know how Ecklie can be if he doesn't get results," Greg remarked.

"He scares me," Kady confessed.

"He scares everyone, baby. No need to feel bad about it" Greg retorted.

"He doesn't scare me," Nick scoffed.

"Wanna bet?" everyone else shot back.

"Fair enough," Nick sighed.

"Well, see you all next shift," Grissom bidded as he walked out.

"Hey, Greg. You want a ride home to freshen up before working again?" Warrick offered.

"Please and thank you," was Greg's response as he got up.

"Lindsey has to go in an hour. See you guys tomorrow," Catherine said as she left after Warrick and Greg.

"I really don't need anymore grief from the sheriff," Brass remarked as he walked out.

"So…I guess that leaves you and me," Grissom stated.

"Three-year-old daughter. Up all night. Exhausted like God only knows what. Sleep is all that I care about," Nick reminded him as he left.

* * *

><p>When Nick pulled into the driveway, he had never felt more relieved to finally be home. This whole shift had just been one crazy ride. Something he definitely never wanted to go through again. Sure. It was nice seeing Kristy and all. But he didn't want to see her in those circumstances. But deep down, he was more than happy to see her again. He was BEYOND THRILLED. And in his heart, he knew he would see her again. He WANTED to see her again. He's never felt this way since his wife's tragic death. He didn't want that feeling to go away ever again. But there was a nagging feeling inside of him. Telling him not to pursue his feelings. Because he preferred things to be the way they are now. Just him and his three-year-old daughter. He never wanted to change that. Ever. And dating something new would just make things awkward.<p>

Nick turned towards the back and smiled at the sight of his three-year-old baby asleep in the back seat. Smiling, he unbuckled and swung his backpack on his shoulders. He then opened the back door and unbuckled his daughter carefully so he didn't disturb her sleep. Carefully, he scooped her into his arms, shut the door and locked the car. When he got to the door, he singlehandedly unlocked the front door and stepped inside, kicking his shoes off along the way. Briefly laying Kady on the couch, he quickly threw his backpack onto his bed before carrying Kady to her room. Not once she had stirred. Not even as he changed her from her skirt and singlet to her favourite butterfly jammies.

Gently, he laid her on the bed and covered her with the sheets. He grabbed her plush butterfly that was nearby and placed it on the bed next to her. He kissed her cheek quickly before pulling the blankets higher over her as she shifted in her sleep. Relieved that she was settled, Nick left the room and changed into his old college tracksuit. This time, he didn't wear a shirt to bed. **(Female admirers: Ooooh… *sighs dreamily* Jason: Really? Me: Get used to it.)** He collapsed into his bed without bothering to cover himself. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep. All his dreams were filled with a certain Kristy Hopkins and the future they have together.

Not that he'd admit it…

* * *

><p><strong>Meh. Wasn't as long this time. But oh so worth it. We only have next episode to go and we're up to BOOM! Oh, this will be good…<strong>

**BYE AND PLEASE REVIEW!**


	13. Fahrenheit 932

**Fahrenheit 932 (only one more episode to go...): A man is awaiting trail for starting an arson fire that killed his wife and son. Claiming he is innocent, he calls on Grissom to help him. Now it is up to Grissom, Sara and Warrick to clear him, especially when they find out that Day Shift supervisor Conrad Ecklie did sloppy work when he was the lead CSI on the case. In another investigation, a teenage 'runner' is shot to death at close range and Nick and Catherine have to figure out who killed him and what circumstances had lead to his death.**

**Next, Boom: A bomb explodes in the reception area of an office building, resulting in the death of a security guard working there. Grissom, Sara and Warrick launch an investigation to find out the bomber. And their prime suspect is another security guard who is just too eager to help them and has the knowledge to make a bomb similar to the one that blew up the building. Meanwhile, Nick's career and his future with Kady are on the line when he and Kristy Hopkins sleep together and Kristy is discovered in her house murdered hours later. Things only get worse when Nick's DNA and fingerprints are at the crime scene and Conrad Ecklie is the lead on the case. And when Ecklie takes Kady away from Nick because he's the primary suspect in her murder, Catherine only has half a day before a warrent is issued for Nick's arrest for a murder he had no part in!**

**Then, To Halve and to Hold: A single bone is discovered in the desert by two boys placing fetch with their dog. Grissom, Catherine and Nick have to piece together the skeleton and figure out what happened to their victim. While they do that, a male stripper is found dead in a motel room after performing at a bachelorette party, leaving Warrick and Sara to find out who killed him, how he died and what were the circumstances that lead to his death.**

**Later, Table Stakes: The home of the legendary Las Vegas showgirl, Portia Richmond, is the host of a fundraiser event for an organisation she's supporting. During the party, an uninvited guest is found floating in the pool dead. Eventually, Portia mysteriously disappears and the young couple who house-sat for her are the first suspects. The Sheriff gives Grissom nothing but grief and peer pressure due to the fact the case the working is big-time high-profile and the results and how they're obtained affects his campaign as he runs for mayor. Meanwhile, while everyone else is working the high-profile case, Warrick is working a mob hit in a glass elevator.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Too Tough to Die  
><strong>**Face Lift  
><strong>**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler (Season 1 finale)**

**REVIEW REPLIES!**

**Caitlin: **_**Yes, i saw it online to and thought the same. LOVE NICK!**_

_**EXCITED FOR BOOM!**_

**PS: Are you doim all the seasons with Kady? Xx**

**I plan on doing all the seasons with Kady in them. But I'm not doing all the episodes, though...except when Season 10 rolls around. For seasons 2-9, I'm doing all the episodes on the first disc from the DVD releases then I'm going to do one episode from each disc (I'll pick one at random...except the ones I know I want to do.) and the episodes on the last disc. You know what I mean? Thanks for the review. I can't wait to do Boom next. I only hope I can do it justice... Oh! Uh...you know how you suggested I have Ecklie take Kady away from Nick because of his involvement in Kristy's murder? Well, how would you have him take Kady away? And on what grounds? Because he doens't have any right to revoke Nick's parental rights unless he has solid grounds.**

**Well, obviously, I don't own anything related to CSI except Kady.**

**ENJOY! (YAY! I DIDN'T WASTE TWO PAGES THIS TIME!)  
><strong>

**Hey! Does anyone find it weird that I'm writing a CSI story while listening to the theme of CSI on my iPod Touch? Heck. The theme's my default ringtone on my iPhone! And now the cat's giving me the creeps by just sitting there looking at me.**

* * *

><p>Hey! Why are we in the Western Las Vegas Correctional Facility in this chapter? Oh. Right. There's a package we have to follow. And a certain cellmate addresses his package to...<p>

_**Gil Grissom  
><strong>__**c/o CSI  
><strong>__**2974 Westfall  
><strong>__**Las Vegas, NV89109**_

Plus side: we know where to go if we want to visit our favourite CSIs when we go to Vegas. Wait. This is just a show. RATS! Anyways, we shall follow this package to see where it will end up.

"Into the bag. Follow me," the officer instructed.

From the bag to the conveyor belt, to the x-ray, to the mail truck, to…

* * *

><p>"This came for you, Uncle Gil," Kady announced as she ran in carrying the package.<p>

"Thank you, sweetheart," Grissom thanked as he placed Kady on his lap and took the package from her.

"What's this? An anonymous package from county lockup?" Brass asked before Grissom grabbed something to open it, "Yeah, well, hey. Just a second. Wait a minute. Give two innocent bystanders a chance to clear out, will you?"

"What are you so worried about?" Grissom demanded as Brass took Kady from Grissom.

"One minute, I'm eating tomato salad and close to vomiting at the sight of you babying our goddaughter. The next…Kady and I are gazpacho," Brass remarked as Grissom opened the box to reveal…a video tape, "With any luck, it'll be the next episode of G-String Divas." **(Jason: Oh, if only… Me: What the hell, man?)**

Oh, if only it was…for the blokes out there, of course. They'd be having the time of their lives. Sorry, Brass. But this video is not the next episode of G-String Divas. Since when do you watch that, anyways?

"What's G-String Divas?" Kady wanted to know.

"If we answered that question…well, you know your dad," Grissom answered as he placed the video into the machine and they watched it.

"_My name is Frank Damon... And I'm awaiting trial for the… murder of… my wife and son._"

"That's an arson case – a few months ago. The DA is asking for the death penalty," Brass explained.

"_I didn't kill my family... But my lawyer says the evidence is against me… I was a good father. I loved him. I would have given my life for Toby and Jeannie. They were my world. Mr Grissom, you are my last hope. Please… Help me._"

"An innocent man. Jail's full of them," Brass scoffed.

"It only takes one," Grissom retorted.

"Will you help him?" Kady questioned.

"I don't know, alligator. I don't know," Grissom sighed.

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Gary Dourdan  
>George Eads<br>Jorja Fox  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

Something tells me that Grissom's gonna help Frank. Wanna know how I know? He's reviewing the case files. As he continued to read the file, Catherine walked in with Nick and Sara following her. Grissom didn't see them…well, until Catherine started reading the file over his shoulder.

"Am I disturbing you?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah," Grissom nodded.

"Good," Catherine said.

That was when Grissom noticed everyone else there.

"Oh. Great. Sorry. Uh, I was supposed to pass out some supervisor evaluation forms. Where are they?" Grissom asked as he started looking around the stacks of papers before realizing something, "Kady, Greg, did you hide my forms again?"

Sheepishly, Kady and Greg held up the sheets.

"Remind me to never let you guys spend time together in the lab," Grissom sighed as Catherine took them.

"Mmm. Get to rate the boss. I dig this," Nick smirked as he sat down.

"Give him a perfect ten or your ass is outta here," Catherine threatened as she handed Nick the form.

"No, it's not," Grissom sighed as they headed towards the table around Warrick, "Alright. Assignment: parking lot of the sportsbook at the Monaco. Caucasian male found dead in the front seat of his car."

"Two days before the Super Bowl," Nick remarked as he took his daughter from Greg's lap into his own.

"I'll take a piece of that," Warrick whistled as he leant forward in his seat.

"No. Uh, Nick and Catherine. Nick, I'll look after Kady. I don't want her anywhere near the sportsbook," Grissom stated.

"What else you got?" Sara wanted to know.

"You and Warrick are working with me," Grissom announced.

"The prisoner plea. Brass and Kady told me about the video," Catherine said.

"Yeah. If we take the case, we have very little time to work it. The trial starts in three days," Grissom stated.

"How did he find you? 1-800-GRISSOM?" Sara joked, causing Nick and Kady to laugh.

"Wait a minute. Ecklie was the CSI on that arson. I see a bad moon rising," Catherine remarked.

"Can a CSI take over another CSI's case?" Warrick asked nervously.

"Only if they're of equel rank and they're looking for trouble," Catherine answered.

"No trouble. We're both collegues searching for the truth," Grissom reassured them, "OK. That's it. Look…onward. You have to start by looking at this."

As soon as Grissom held up the tape, Sara and Kady reached to take it (Sara kidnapped her).

"Hey. What happened to that, uh, meeting the other day?" Warrick suddenly asked.

"Meeting?" Grissom echoed in confusion.

"Yeah, the department heads were voting on an extra vacation day or something," Warrick recalled.

That was enough to stop Nick in his tracks and turn back…well, that and he had to say goodbye to Kady. Grissom just stared at them with a clueless expression. Obviously, he didn't go to the meeting. Catherine just sighed.

"Hmm… Organization: minus one," Nick decided as he filled in the evaluation, before kissing Kady's cheek and blowing rhaspberries on her neck, causing Kady to squirm and giggle, "Be good."

"Always am," Kady smiled as she kissed her daddy's nose.

* * *

><p>"Yo, cousin!" Brass called as he saw Grissom in the parking lot preparing to leave, "I'm going to save you some gas here. I did some checking on your pal Damon."<p>

"I don't remember asking you to," Grissom recalled.

"Eyewitness saw him running from his burning house. Inside was his wife and kid. Now, wife's a big spender. Maxed out on the credit cards. They just bought the place and already he's late on payments. Couple's always arguing about money. No surprise," Brass explained.

"Well, how does killing his family solve his money problems?" Grissom questioned.

"Maybe he didn't mean to. Maybe he needed the insurance dough and things got out of hand," Brass shrugged.

"Too many maybes. I think we should go with the evidence," Grissom voiced his thoughts.

"Well, I got something for you on that, too. Gasoline found in the master bedroom closet," Brass added.

"Yeah. A hydrocarbon. I read Ecklie's report," Grissom said.

"Did you skip the page with Damon's credit card receipts? Guy bought a gallon of gas a week before the fire," Brass announced.

"Do I seem like the kind of guy who skips stuff?" Grissom demanded.

"Read my lips. There is no compelling evidence to suggest Damon was wrongfully charged!" Brass snapped.

"Well, then it'll be a short interview, won't it?" Grissom retorted as he started the engine.

* * *

><p>"Whew! Two days before the Super Bowl and they're already killing each other!" Nick remarked as he and Catherine walked up to the crime scene.<p>

"Hey, O'Riley, anyone put their meat hooks on this vehicle?" Catherine asked as she looked into the car window.

"How long have we worked together?" O'Riley asked.

"Still got to ask," Catherine apologized.

"Sergeant," Nick said.

That was all Nick needed to say before O'Riley moved aside. Obviously, he wanted to get to the body. This poor kid was leaning against the steering wheel with a massive hole in the back of his head. Once again, poor kid…

"What's up?" O'Riley asked.

"Oh…gunshot wound to the head. Point-blank range," Nick pointed out.

"Just a baby," Catherine sighed as she snapped a photo of the body.

"He's closer to becoming a man than Kady is of becoming a woman. Kady's just a baby," Nick retorted.

"Hey. Isn't Kady turning 4 next month?" O'Riley asked as Catherine opened the back door and checked the wallet.

"Yeah," Nick nodded, "Why?"

"She's not gonna be a baby for long," O'Riley pointed out, "Soon, she's gonna start school."

"Please don't remind me," Nick moaned, "And no matter how old she is, she's still gonna be my baby."

"Tap city. Empty," Catherine announced as she held up the wallet she found in the back seat, "Killer was probably in the back seat waiting for him. Kid never stood a chance."

"Check this out," Nick said as he pointed to something in the victim's ear, "Hearing aid?"

"Maybe he was deaf," Catherine shrugged.

"Possibly," Nick shrugged before noticing the window as he opened the other door in the back seat, "Got some condensation on the window. You should get a shot of this."

And Catherine did. When she took the photo Nick wanted, she pulled out a plastic back under the passenger-side seat in the back. When she opened it and checked inside, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"You hungry, Nick? Got a burger. Extra lettuce," Catherine laughed as she held up the stack of hundred-dollar bills."

"A rule of thumb: $2500 an inch. There's gotta be…fifteen thousand there?" Nick guessed.

"Giants…negative nine," Catherine read.

That sounded familiar to Nick. So he looked at Catherine who handed him the money at once. He showed Catherine the ticket that was attatched to the stack of bills.

"Giants minus nine. It's a Super Bowl ticket. Straight bet. $30000," Nick explained.

"What was a kid doing walking around with a wad like that betting thirty grand on a football game? Who wrote the ticket?" Catherine asked.

"Teller 12," Nick read.

* * *

><p>"Yeah. I wrote the ticket. So what?" Tony demanded.<p>

"So, it was found with the kid killed in your parking lot," Catherine retorted.

"Yeah. 40 dimes. It was 517's," Tony recalled.

"517? What's that?" Nick asked.

"That's his number. He was a runner," Tony announced.

"A runner?" Catherine repeated in confusion.

"Yeah. A gofer – runs from book to book. Places bets with other people's money," Tony explained.

"Kid wasn't a day over sixteen. Isn't that illegal?" Catherine questioned.

"Lady, he's not buying a packet of cigarettes. He's betting $30000. Vig for the house is three grand. We look the other way," Tony defended.

"I'd be willing to bet there's a mother out there that wishes you hadn't," Nick shot back.

"Hey. What do I care? I'm out of this job by the end of the week. Tired of looking at scumbags," Tony grumbled.

"Well, does 517 have a name?" Catherine asked.

"I only know them by their numbers," Tony apologized, causing Nick to turn and walk away.

"Well, you've been very helpful. Thank you," Catherine thanked before turning on her heel to follow Nick.

* * *

><p>"Evening," Grissom greeted the officer as he approached the gate at the correctional facility.<p>

"Here you go," the officer said as he opened the gate.

"Thanks," Grissom nodded.

"YO, GRISSOM!"

Grissom turned and saw a guard leading a line of inmates for a walk in the fresh night air. Immediately, he recognised him as someone he had put away before.

"This guy's the reason I'm in here. Shoe print," he explained to another inmate before yelling at Grissom, "Yo, man! Next time, I'll go barefoot!"

"Even better! Footprints!" Grissom retorted in amusement.

* * *

><p>Grissom sits in the conference room waiting for the guard to bring Frank Damon to the cubicle. Eventually, he does. Grissom couldn't tell if Frank was angry he was here or relieved that he was actually here taking an interest in his plea of innocence. Frank and Grissom picked up the telephone.<p>

"So you're the Grissom they wrote about in the newspaper? I thought you'd be older," Frank remarked.

"Why did you contact me, Mr Damon?" Grissom asked.

"Arson specialist gave me your name. Well, six of them, actually. They all turned my case down. Will you help me?" Frank wanted to know.

"Fires are very complicated," Grissom stated.

"It wasn't too complicated for the guy who put me in here," Frank retorted, only to have Grissom not respond and just sit there staring at him, "You think if you stare at me long enough, you can tell if I'm innocent?"

"I don't mean to stare. But yes. I can learn some things. For instance, the back of your hands are smooth. You read a lot. You have indentation marks on your nose from reading glasses. Your speech tells me that you're well-educated. Your occupation's not listed in the file. But I think that you had a white-collar job," Grissom explained.

"Paper-pusher for the phone company," Frank nodded.

"I don't know yet whether you're left or right-handed, though," Grissom confessed, causing Frank to instinctively move his right hand towards him, "Now, you want to tell me what happened?"

"It was about midnight. My wife, Jeannie – she was hungry. She had a food craving. She sent me out to the store to get her ice cream. My son, Toby. He was in the bed with us. He couldn't sleep. I was going to take him camping the next day. Toby was 8," Frank sighed.

"Why don't you tell me about the fire?" Grissom suggested.

"I got back from the store in under 20 minutes. I saw smoke coming out of the back of the house. I could hear the alarm. The house was filled with smoke. I checked the door for heat. I knew not to open it," Frank recalled.

"Why?" Grissom demanded.

"Flashover," Frank answered.

"Flashover," Grissom repeated, surprised.

"That's right. When the fire reaches about 932 degrees Fahrenheit, you add oxygen and the smoke will burst into flame. I know how fire behaves, Mr Grissom, because I'm a volunteer fireman. I was hoping to make the department this Spring. So I couldn't open the door. I ran outside to my car to call a rig," Frank explained.

"Well, if you're a volunteer fireman, then you must be familiar with the use of accelerants," Grissom stated.

"Yes," Frank agreed.

"According to the report, there were traces of gasoline found on the floor of your bedroom closet," Grissom recalled.

"That's right. And I don't know how it got there. We didn't keep anything like that in the house," Frank defended.

"Our homicide department has a credit card receipt for gasoline – your receipt – and there's no other suspects," Grissom pointed out.

"I didn't burn down my house, Mr Grissom. I bought the gasoline for the lawnmower and kept it in the garage. Now, if there was gasoline in our closet, someone else put it there. Find them," Frank pleaded.

"I don't chase criminals, Mr Damon. I just evaluate evidence," Grissom said.

Frank placed his hand up on the glass, causing Grissom to notice something, "I need someone to believe me. To figure this out."

"How did you burn your hand, Mr Damon?" Grissom suddenly asked.

"I don't remember," Frank mumbled as he placed his hand down.

"People with third-degree burns don't forget how they got them," Grissom retorted.

"You're not going to help me?" Frank sighed.

"I'll take your case. I don't know whether I'll help you or not," Grissom confessed.

"Do you have any children, Mr Grissom?" Frank blurted.

"No. But I have a goddaughter who is like a daughter to me. She's almost four. Her name's Kadelin," Grissom answered.

"Aside from Jeannie, my son was the best thing that's ever happened to me. The time I've ever felt the happiest was when I was able to hold my newborn son in my arms and give him a name. I wanted to hand him the world on a silver platter. I wanted no harm to come to him. Jeannie and Toby were my world until that night. Please, Mr Grissom. Bring justice. Not for me. But for my wife and son," Frank pleaded, "What would you do if Kadelin was murdered?"

"I would be helping her father find the person responsible and bring her the justice she deserves. So would our fellow CSIs," Grissom vowed.

"Then you know how I feel. My son was taken from me too soon. My wife died before we could really live our lives. You are my only hope. So please, Mr Grissom. Find justice in this," Frank begged.

* * *

><p>A Tahoe pulled up in front of the Damon residence. Exiting the vehicle was Grissom, Sara and Warrick. They noticed that the house was still a crime scene. Well, we're not surprised. The case goes to court in a few days. They wanted to keep the crime scene so they can find any evidence they possibly missed. As soon as they walked inside, Grissom started observing the damange done in the fire (and by the firemen) and Warrick started snapping photos.<p>

"Nothing harder to investigate than arson. If the fire hasn't ruined your crime scene," Grissom started.

"The firemen have," Sara finished.

"Yeah," Grissom greeted.

"Funny place for a mattress," Sara remarked as she pointed to the mattress nearby.

"Overhaul. Post-blaze. Firemen remove charred items to neutralize the hot spots. Prevents flare-ups," Grissom explained.

"We should've brought Kadelin with us. This would've been a good education experience for her," Warrick pointed out.

"Do you really want to be the one who ends up charging your best friend for murder?" Grissom retorted.

Sara walked inside Toby's bedroom. Like the majority of the house, there was some damage from the blaze that claimed Toby's and Jeannie's lives. Immediately, Sara stepped inside and knelt in front of some packed gear.

"Looks like the kid was going camping," Sara commented before removing something from the backpack with her tweezers, "Waterproof matches."

"Bag those," Grissom instructed.

"What do you think? The kid might have started it?" Warrick asked, causing Grissom to give him the look, "We don't rule anything out."

"Yeah," Grissom agreed as Sara bagged the matches and they moved towards the master bedroom, "The fire was contained inside this room. But the outside door frame is severely charred."

"Well, fires take the path of least resistance. I mean, they feed off of oxygen and combustables," Warrick pointed out.

"We're going to take a piece of this back to the lab," Grissom decided.

"It's a weird place for such a thorough burn. Especially since the door isn't scorched. Look at this. Rubber?" Sara guessed as they looked at the doorknob.

"Firemen wear rubber gloves," Warrick stated as he snapped a photo and they walked inside, "According to Ecklie's report, which was filed in record time, the point of origin for the fire was the closet. Griss, there's nothing left here."

"More than you think," Grissom retorted, "V pattern on the outside wall. Fires like to go up and out."

"That's why you can always count on seeing a pattern," Sara piped in.

"This one's narrow. This was a very intense, rapidly moving fire," Grissom announced.

"Well, they confirms Ecklie's findings about the use of an accelerant," Warrick remarked as he snapped a photo.

"The apex of the V usually indicates the point of origin. You want to call it, Warrick?" Grissom offered.

"Damn doused the closet floor with gasoline, lit it and got the hell out of dodge," Warrick answered.

"Shards of glass!" Grissom called as he saw them on the floor.

"Bag a sample. I'll put it through the lab," Sara offered.

"Can't. It's melted into the concrete," Grissom said.

"So that's why the concrete's discoloured? From the heat?" Sara asked.

"It's called spalling. It confirms the presence of an accelerant," Grissom explained.

"Why would there be glass in the middle of the hot spot?" Sara pondered.

"Good question," Grissom complimented.

"Who cares? The guy torched his wife and kid," Warrick scoffed, causing Grissom to look at him.

"Really? Where's the trailing? An arsonist would spread the gasoline around to maximize the brun area," Grissom retorted.

"He still did the job," Sara agreed with Warrick.

"Listen, you guys. You're like Dodger fans. The ball game's only in the seventh inning and you're already out of your seats," Grissom scoffed before walking past them.

* * *

><p>Oh, here comes the hardest part for any Crime Scene Investigator. Watching a parent identifying the body of her own child in the morgue. Catherine leads the heartbroken Sandra Hillman inside the room and towards the body. Catherine lowered the sheet asking,<p>

"Mrs Hillman, is this your son?'

Sandra looked down at the body. Immediately, she knew. She nodded whilst crying silently. Her boy's barely 16. He was just a kid. A kid taken from her too soon. Catherine started crying as well. The sight's just too heartbreaking to handle.

* * *

><p>"Mrs Hillman? Was your son hearing-impared? Joey was wearing a hearing aid," Catherine announced.<p>

"No. No. Joey's hearing was fine. Why would he have that?" Sandra demanded.

"I don't know," Catherine sighed softly.

"Wait a minute. Danny swore to me he'd keep Joey out of that racket," Sandra blurted.

"Danny?" Catherine repeated.

"My older son. He's a runner, too. They wear remote earpieces. They's how they talk to the guy they worked for. We've had full-scale wars about him doing that – carrying around that kind of money – but does he stop? No. He gets Joey involved," Sandra scoffed.

"Well, the plice will want to talk to your son, Danny," Catherine told her.

"I haven't seen him in a week. And he hasn't returned my calls. Do you think something's happened to him, too?" Sandra asked tearfully.

* * *

><p>Oh great. Speak of the devil. Grissom, Sara and Warrick were innocently walking the halls of CSI carrying new evidence they collected from the Damon house. Guess who they happened to bump into? Conrad Ecklie. Uh-oh. Ecklie and Grissom = oil and water. Do NOT go well together. Everybody…GET CLEAR!<p>

"Grissom," Ecklie greeted.

"I'll see you guys in the evidence lab," Grissom said.

"Night shift so slow you've got to pick over my cases?" Ecklie asked teasingly.

"I'm just making sure that we've answered all the questions," Grissom defended.

"Was it arson? Yes. No doubt about it. What accelerant was used? Let's see – hydrocarbon residiue. And a credit card receipt. Got to be gasoline," Ecklie scoffed.

"Yeah? Why was there no trailing? And why no evidence of an incendiary device anywhere in the bedroom?" Grissom shot back.

"He's a volunteer fireman, Gil. He knows how to start a fire and hide the evidence. Don't you think, if this guy was remotely innocent, his attorney would be involved in your little investigation?" Ecklie retorted.

"What are you so afraid of, Conrad? We're just a couple of science geeks. Why can't we work together?' Grissom asked.

"No. We are public servants. We investigate cases as efficiently as we can and then we move on. We're not a clearinghouse for defendants on the eve of trial who don't like what we've turned up," Ecklie corrected.

"Yes. We are. If it's our mistake that put them there," Grissom retorted before walking away.

"Fine. Spin your wheels!" Ecklie shouted back at him.

"Hey, Eck?" Grissom smirked, "What is the new policy on vacation days?"

Way to shut Ecklie up. GO GRISSOM!

* * *

><p>"Runners, huh? I know a little something about that world," Warrick boasted as he removed his jacket and turning to Kady in front of him, "Hey, honey. Why don't you pick me a shirt?"<p>

"OK," Kady nodded before going through his shirts.

"Yeah. We thought you might. So?" Nick pressed.

"It breaks down like this. There's about a half a dozen runners in town – they're mostly kids – and they make about two gs a week. And they all work for the same guy," Warrick told them.

"Well, that's more than a little something," Catherine remarked.

"I used to be a runner in college. It paid the bills. I had route five. Worked Boulder, Sunset, Vacation and the bay – all of that," Warrick recalled.

"So who was your boss then?" Catherine asked.

"The Voice," Warrick answered before taking the shirt Kady was offering him, "Thanks, Elmo."

"He doesn't have a name?" Nick questioned.

"Runners go from bet to bet. They jot down their orders and they call them into The Voice. Guy runs the entire operation underground. I mean, he takes orders from Back East and lays them off in Vegas. Pockets his vig, his commission. He's like a trader on the stock exchange," Warrick explained.

"Cookie Monster, your pager," Kady suddenly said.

"There's nothing wrong with my-," Warrick was cut short by his pager going off, "I take that back. What are you? Psychic?"

"I dunno," Kady shrugged.

"I knew it. That's Grissom. I gotta bail," Warrick sighed as he closed the locker door and scooped Kady into his arms.

"So how do we find this, uh, Voice?" Nick asked.

"You don't," Kady shook her head.

"She has a point. He's not who you're looking for, anyways. If you wanna know who capped this kid? Then you should talk to another runner. I mean, they'll kill each other for a good route," Warrick remarked before walking away.

* * *

><p>Uh-oh. Grissom's conducting an experiment in the lab. EVERYBODY, GET CLEAR! Haha! Jokes! The experiment Grissom's conduction is perfectly safe. Well…unless you're under the hood. Sara leaned over Grissom's shoulder so she could see what he's doing.<p>

"Uh…you might wanna take three giant steps backwards," Grissom warned, causing Sara to do so.

"What's going on?" Warrick asked as he walked in with Kady in his arms, "Hey, Sara. Can you take Kady for a moment? My shoulder's feeling funny?"

"Danger, Will Robinson. And do you even have to ask?" Sara retorted as she took Kady into her arms.

"Three drops of gasoline. Limited oxygen supply. Suply heat to ignition temperature of 932 degrees Fahrenheit," Grissom recalled.

"Same conditions in Damon's bedroom. Night of the fire," Warrick realized.

_BOOM!_

I believe that was caused by the mouth of the flash flashing and the small explosion that happened.

"Cool!" Kady squealed happily.

"Smoke to fire," Grissom said.

"Flashover. So that confirms the first part of Damon's story," Warrick pointed out as he took a seat.

"Tell me you're here to confirm part two," Grissom pleaded.

"As a matter of fact, here is your doorframe. I had Collins analyze the burn depth. You see these rolling blisters?" Sara asked as she pointed them out.

"It's called alligatoring. See the way the wood's cracked? It looks like the skin of an alligator," Grissom remarked.

"Based on the depth of the allir…allo," Sara stuttered.

"Alligatoring," Warrick and Kady offered.

"Thanks. This wood bruned very hot and fast," Sara finished.

"Use of accelerant?" Grissom asked.

"Negative," Sara shook her head.

"But that piece was a doorframe outside of the bedroom – which was a contained sight!" Warrick objected.

"So the only way this could've happened was…O2," slowly, Grissom realized what had happened, "Damon opened the door. He lied."

"So what happens now?" Kady asked.

"We chase the lie…'til it leads to the truth," Grissom answered his goddaughter.

* * *

><p>Grissom made his way down the hallway at the prison. When he reached the end of the hallway, he saw Frank sitting on a bench talking to Rachel. It didn't take long for Frank to notice his presence. So he stood up and gave Rachel a hug before she left.<p>

"That's my sister. She's the only one who stood by me in all this," Frank explained as they sat down.

"Anything else you wanna tell me?" Grissom asked.

"What? About my sister?" Frank guessed.

"About the fire," Grissom corrected.

"I…told you everything," Frank lied.

"Your bedroom doorframe disagrees. If no one opened the door…the outside frame wouldn't have burned. As a firefighter, you know that. May I see your hand, please? Palm up," Grissom requested.

Frank opened his palm and showed him the third-degree burn he sustained that night. Grissom took out the doorknob from his master bedroom door.

"This is the same type of doorknob that you have on your bedroom door," Grissom said as he placed the knob in Frank's hand, causing him to grab it and start crying, "Mr Damon…"

"Please…I don't want anyone to know," Frank pleaded.

"Why? This places you outside the fire. You're facing the death penalty. Why are you lying?" Grissom demanded.

"I'm a firefighter. And when my wife and my son needed me…I forgot everything. I didn't check for heat. I didn't look for smoke. All I could think about was getting them out. So I opened the door. I let a monster out. I could just about make them out through the flame. But I…I couldn't get to them!" he sobbed.

"What else?" Grissom pressed.

"I had to close the door. The whole house would've gone up and the firemen would have never reached them. I killed my family!" Frank cried.

"Carbon monoxide killed them long before the fire got to them. You know that," Grissom reminded him sympathetically.

"It doesn't matter what I know. My family died because I wasn't there to protect them!" Frank snapped.

"You tried to save your family. I would have done the same if I was in your shoes. No matter what. But that doesn't mean you didn't start the fire. Are you lying about that too?" Grissom asked.

"You tell me," Frank demanded as he stopped crying.

"I will," Grissom swore.

* * *

><p>"Hey. You didn't hear this from me, alright? But, um…see the guy over there – blue sweatshirt with the orange hood?" Tony started as he pointed the guy out for Nick and Catherine.<p>

"Yeah," Nick nodded.

"702. He's a runner. He used to hang with 517 – the kid who was killed," Tony told them.

"He's not talking to himself, is he?" Nick realized.

"Talking to his boss on a wire," Tony clarified.

'It's illegal to use two-way communication in the sportsbook," Catherine pointed out.

"As long as you don't get caught," Tony retorted, "I gotta get back to work."

As Tony returned to work, Nick and Catherine turned around and headed over towards 702.

"Lakers are minus 11. Total is 189. Yeah. Bulls pick. Kings are down to nine from eleven. …done," 702 nodded as he placed a betting piece down at the cage, "Lakers. $50000. Gimme as much eleven as you can."

"You like the Lakers today?" Catherine smiled as she and Nick approached him.

"Here you go," the cage said as he handed 702 his ticket and he turned to look at Catherine.

"So do I," Catherine confessed.

"Yeah. Joey Hillman. 517. Yeah. He was a good kid. It's too bad about him getting shot," 702 remarked.

"Yeah. I guess all the runners heard about it by now, huh?" Nick asked.

"I guess," 702 shrugged.

"So who got Joey's route?" Catherine asked.

"I don't know. The only thing I know is my own route," 702 confessed.

"What was Joey's route, exactly?" Nick questioned.

"You guys are asking a lot of questions for not being cops, huh?" 702 commented.

"Are you interested in helping us beter understand Joey's crime scene…or not?" Nick wanted to know.

"I only know what I see on the news," 702 chuckled, "Later."

* * *

><p>Hey! Nice call with the face mask, Warrick! Now, we're back at the Damon residence checking it out for more evidence. Everything was covered in black. Everything was charred. Almost everything was destroyed. Someone approached Warrick from behind. But he didn't see or hear him. When this person made a sound, Warrick gasped, jumped to his feet, turned and held up his flashlight. This person held his flashlight at him too. And it's…GRISSOM!<p>

"You got me!" Warrick panted.

"Sorry. What are you doing here?" Grissom asked.

"Sifting through this debris. You mind?" Warrick requested.

"No," Grissom shook his head as he moved the flashlight.

"Give me a hand with this mattress," Warrick pleaded.

And so Grissom did. Together, they lifted the mattress away from the centre of the living room. When they did, they immediately found something that could blow this case wide open.

"Space heater. Janko electric. Model…220," Grissom pointed out.

"Or it was. I figure it must have burned up in the bedroom and the firemen threw it out of here with the rest of this overhaul," Warrick guessed.

"This is heavy-duty. High-voltage. This thing could heat our whole lab," Grissom remarked.

"Or overload a house," Warrick added, causing Grissom to realize something and Warrick to nod, "Breaker box."

* * *

><p>That's what drew Warrick and Grissom to the basement in the Damon residence. Immedately, they found the breaker box and opened it. Inside they found somethng else that'll break the case.<p>

"Circuit overload. Master bedroom," Warrick pointed out.

"You know what to do next?" Grissom asked.

"Yeah," Warrick nodded.

Immediately, Warrick grabbed a power drill and cut out the remains of the overloaded plug from the bedroom wall. He started thinking that maybe, just maybe, that he was wrong.

He started thinking that maybe, Frank Damon was telling the truth and didn't start that fire.

* * *

><p>"The condensation inside Joey's back seat window is nasal mucus," Collins told Catherine.<p>

"From a sneeze," Catherine guessed.

"Most likely. You're thinking…the shooter was in the back seat?" Collins asked.

"Mm-hmm. With the sniffles," Catherine agreed, "So what is the DNA like in mucas these days?"

"It's pretty good. I'll start a DNA profile," Collins said.

"Thanks," Catherine thanked.

"Catherine?"

She turned around and saw David Phillips trying to get her attention. Hmmm…I wonder why…

"Oh, hi, David. What's up?" Catherine asked.

"There's someone waiting for you in reception," David announced.

* * *

><p>And indeed there was. When Catherine walked into the reception, she was immediately greeted by the sight of Sergeant O'Riley waiting for her with Sandra Hillman and her son, Danny. Wow. So they finally found him.<p>

"Detective?" Catherine greeted in confusion.

"She came in with her son. Thought you'd like a conversation before we sat down with him," O'Riley explained.

"Yeah. Thanks. Did you call Nick?" Catherine questioned.

"Yeah," O'Riley nodded.

"Uh…come on," Sandra instructed Danny, "This is my son, Danny. He heard about Joey and came home."

* * *

><p>Catherine, Nick and Sergeant O'Riley questioned Danny Hillman in the interrogation room. Sandra was there with him. After all, it is against the law to question a minor without a Child Services advocate or a parentguardian present unless they have permission to.

"So I took some of my runner money and I hit the blackjack tables. I lost…so I doubled up. I ended up losing thirty grand in eight minutes," Danny explained.

"Well, I can see why you ran," Catherine remarked.

"I was scared. You know, it wasn't my money," Danny defended.

"Did you think to get back to your boss? Try to make amends?" Nick asked.

"You guys don't even know who your boss is, do you?" Catherine guessed.

"Did you tell Joey to get out of town – that someone might try to harm him on behalf of your boss?" Nick questioned.

"I should have. But no. I only worried about my butt. They killed Joey to send a message to me. Mum, I'm sorry. I didn't know," Danny apologized.

"Danny…do you have any idea who shot your brother?" Catherine pressed.

"One of the runners. Probably a guy…," Danny started.

"No! No. No names," Sandra cut her son short.

"One of them killed Joey. You know, they'll do anything for money. It's like a-a disease," Danny said.

"And if you talk, they'll come after you," Sandra told Danny before turning to Catherine, "No. I'm not losing another child."

"Joey died because of me. Either they find his shooter or I do," Danny threatened.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold on now! Nobody's going after anybody! OK. He doesn't have to give us a name, Mrs Hillman. Alright. Danny, you wear an earpiece, right? Just give us the frequency you runners operate on," Nick requested.

* * *

><p>In the lab, Grissom was working on the wiring from the wall socket in the master bedroom. Behind him, Ecklie walked past and turned to see what Grissom was doing. He lingered in the hallway. Oooh…this will be good…<p>

"What the hell are you doing?" Ecklie demanded.

"Something you probably should have done," Grissom answered.

"You're checking for faulty wiring? Waste of time, Gil. Fire started on the floor in the closet. Not in the wires in the wall," Ecklie scoffed.

"Yeah. That was your report. This is an electrical socket from the closet wehre a space heater was plugged in," Grissom told him.

"A heater?" Ecklie repeated, "There was no heater there."

"I found it in the living room. Melted," Grissom commented.

"And I suppose you happen to know which outlet it was plugged into?" Ecklie guessed.

"It was a cold night. The outlet in the closet as closest to her bed," Grissom said.

"That's a little far-fetched, don't you think?" Ecklie asked.

"Look. If this wire burned from the inside out, then the fire started in the wall. Not on the closet floor. Discolouration throughout the conductor. It burned from the inside out. The cause of this fire was an electrical overload in the wall," Grissom explained.

"Alright. You say wall, I say floor. We differ on points of origin. The guy's only gonna hear one word: gasoline," Ecklie pointed out.

"Speaking of which…where's your accelerant analysis work?" Grissom questioned.

"I personally swabbed the closet floor. Found traces of hydrocarbon chains confirming gasoline. Leave it alone, Gil. The DA agrees with me on this," Ecklie boasted.

"Too many unanswered questions, Conrad. This case should not be going to trial yet," Grissom retorted.

"No. There's only one unanswered question. Why was there accelerant in the closet? Only one person knows. And that's why he's looking at the death penalty," Ecklie shot back before walking away.

* * *

><p>"Look. I told you. I don't know why it was there," Frank repeated to Grissom.<p>

"You've got to do better than that," Grissom sighed.

"I CAN'T!" Frank exclaimed in frustration as he rose to his feet.

"It doesn't prove you didn't start it. Until we can explain why there was gasoline in the bedroom closet, the charges stand," Grissom explained to Frank.

Frank turned to give Grissom a very long, hard look and finally said to him, "Then I guess I'm a dead man."

* * *

><p>"Hey, this is bull! I thought I was showing up to win a trip!" 702 shouted as O'Riley lined up a group of runners in the hallway.<p>

"Oh, one of you is going to win a trip, alright. Everybody clear this is voluntary?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah. Sure. Then she just calls the cops to come and arrest us," 702 scoffed.

"So everyone is clear," Catherine smirked.

"Yeah," Nick agreed.

"Yeah," Catherine nodded.

"OK. Here's what we're going to do. Open your nostrils," Nick instructed.

"You know, look, I got a hundred bucks that says none of us are the shooter," 702 laughed.

"Well, if you're that confident it's not one of your guys, you must know who it is," Catherine smirked.

"Even if I did, you think I would tell you?" 702 retorted.

"You're on, cool breeze. A hundred bucks," Nick challenged.

"OK," 702 smiled as Nick took a sample.

"Head back," Catherine insrtucted.

Eventually, everyone was processed and their DNA was being compared to the DNA they found in the back of the car. The swabs were placed into glass containers with their runner numbers on the stickers. Each DNA sample was tested thorough. Eventually, Nick had the results in his hands.

"Didn't take?" Kady asked.

"No," Nick shook his head sadly as he kissed her head.

Sighing, he handed the results back to the lab tech and rejoined Catherine in the hallway.

"OK. You're all free to go," Catherine announced.

"This way, gents," Nick guided.

"You owe me a c-note, baby," 702 reminded Nick.

"Yeah. I don't have it on me. I'll have to bring it to you," Nick told him.

"OK. I'll be holding my breath," 702 remarked before following his fellow runners out the door.

Nick just hummed. When they were all gun, he looked at Catherine and Kady who walked out to join them. Nick removed his gloves and held out his hands in front of him – fingers wide – and growls in frustration. That was when Catherine noticed something paticular around his finger.

* * *

><p>"Counting matches?"<p>

Grissom looked up from what he was doing – which was counting the matches found in Toby's backpack – and saw Sara lingering in the doorway.

"From the kid's room. I counted them yesterday. And I counted them this morning. Twenty. They're all there. I really don't know what I'm doing anymore," Grissom sighed sadly.

"I got a theory. You wanna hear it?" Sara asked.

"Sure," Grissom nodded as Sara sat down.

"You know the melted shards of glass we found on the closet floor? They prove that the fire burned at over a thousand degrees, right? But that temp, combined with the water used to douse the flames, would have destroyed most of the accelerant," Sara stated.

"That's what happens," Grissom told her.

"So Ecklie's conclusion of gasoline wasn't based on physical evidence. It was based on Damon's credit card receipts," Sara went on.

"I can't fault him for that. The burn pattern is consistent with a gasoline accelerant," Grissom shook his head.

"But hydrocarbons are found in all kinds of things. Oils, kerosene, polythylene-based compounds like laxatives – even the foam used in push-up bras," Sara retorted.

"Yeah. Under the right conditions, any hydrocarbon can be an accelerant," Warrick added as he walked into his office.

Suddenly, Grissom pirked up. He realized something. And it could help him clear Frank Damon of all the charges that are against him. He found a way to prove that Frank Damon didn't start the fire. He finally has something to go on. He continued to sit there for moments, looking at Sara.

"Thank you," Grissom thanked before turning to Warrick, "Warrick, you're driving."

"You every worry about professional suicide?" Warrick asked.

"Not while I'm commiting it. No."

* * *

><p>When the Tahoe finally pulled at the side of the street in front of the Damon residence, something stopped them in their tracks. And that would be the giant truck parked out front. They saw a certain crew taking items from inside the house, including the burned mattress. Sara immediately recognized who they were and what they were doing.<p>

"Crime scene cleanup," Sara sighed.

Grissom whacked Warrick in the arm and said angrily, "Let's go."

With those two angry words said, they left the place.

* * *

><p>"YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU SWEPT MY CRIME SCENE! YOU SENT CLEANUP!" Grissom boomed as he and Warrick walked into the break room.<p>

"I didn't send anyone. It's been on the books for months," Ecklie defended.

"So you knew and did nothing about it even with a man's life on the line?" Grissom summised.

"If you'd have checked the docket like everybody else, you would've known what was happening," Ecklie retorted before holding out the coffee pot, "Coffee?"

Everybody, stand back! Trust me! Here it comes…BAM! Grissom knocked the pot out of Ecklie's hand and sent it flying across the room. When it met the wall, it immediately shattered. Broken glass and fresh hot coffee mixed together as they slid across the wall to the floor below. Wow. NEVER mess with Gil Grissom if you want to live.

"Guess you don't want cream with that," Ecklie remarked.

Ecklie turned on his heel and left the break room. He didn't want to face even more of Grissom's wrath. Warrick just stood there watching him leave. Grissom just stood there and stared at the broken carafe on the floor. Then something struck him. Like a flash of lightning genius. He walked towards the broken glass and liquid. That was when he remembers something: the melted glass in the closet floor back at the house. Finally. Everything was falling into place.

"Thanks, Ecklie," Grissom thanked.

* * *

><p>When Grissom arrived back at the prison, he saw Rachel on her way out after visiting Frank. Immediately, Grissom knew they had to talk.<p>

"Hi," Grissom greeted.

"Hi," Rachel returned.

"Excuse me. My name's Gil Grissom," Grissom introduced himself.

"I know. You're heling Frank. Thank you," Rachel thanked before going to leave.

"May I ask you a question?' Grissom asked.

"Sure. Anything to help Frank," Rachel nodded.

"You're his family. What was his relationship like with his wife and son?" Grissom questioned.

"Frank was a wonderful father. Toby adored him," Rachel smiled before stopping herself, "Uh, I'm sorry. I, um…I have to get back to work. But thank you."

* * *

><p>"I broke a coffee pot today. Lost my temper. Anything like that ever happen to you?" Grissom asked Frank, who didn't say anything, "We found shards of melted glass on the floor of your closet. You want to tell me about it? …OK. You can explain it in court. It's all part of the report now."<p>

Grissom hung up the phone and went to leave. Frank suddenly look startled and tapped the window. When Grissom looked back at him, he motioned him to pick the telephone up again. And so he did.

"I didn't leave that night to buy ice cream. I was leaving Jeannie," Frank confessed.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_I warned you," Frank said as he threw his clothes into a bag._

"_Just a few things," Jeannie defended._

_"You can have the damn stuff! I told you this was the last time!" Frank yelled._

"_You going to leave us now?" Jeannie asked in disbelief as she saw Frank grab clothes from the closet._

"_I'm leaving. I'm leaving. I'm leaving. You can be broke by yourself," Frank decided as he continued throwing clothes into his bag._

"_You want to leave? FINE!" Jeannie yelled as she picked some things up from the table and threw them at Frank, "OK! GET OUT!"_

"_What the hell are you doing?" Frank demanded._

"_GET OUT!" Jeannie screeched.  
><em>_End flashback_

"So I just got the hell out of there. Drove for about twenty minutes and then thought, how could I end ten years of our life like that? I mean, we had a son. So I turned around," Frank went on.

"Wait a minute. Go back. What did she throw at you? Be specific," Grissom requested.

"Man, I just ducked and covered," Frank chuckled, "I don't remember."

"Think," Grissom pressed.

"Uh..a-a phone. A-a bag. Uh, a vase maybe?" Frank guessed.

"What kind of a vase?" Grissom asked.

"A flower vase? I don't remember any flowers," Frank shrugged.

"Was it even a vase?" Grissom questioned.

"Look. I don't know. I can't remember," Frank confessed.

"Was it glass? Could it have been glass?" Grissom quizzed.

"Yes. It was glass. It was a glass lamp because it had a wick," Frank recalled.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_GET OUT!" Jeannie screamed._

_"What the hell are you doing?" Frank demanded as he continued dodging stuff._

"_GET OUT!" Jeannie screeched as she reached for the glass lamp._

"_I'm leaving!" Frank decided._

"_JUST GET OUT!" Jeannie yelled as she threw the lamp at Frank._

_Fatal mistake. The lamp dodged Frank and shattered against the wall near the plug. Later on, that would start a fire and kill Jeannie and Toby and result in Frank facing the death penalty.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Like a kerosene lamp?" Grissom pressed.

"Yeah. She bought a lamp like that," Frank recalled.

"I found kerosene on the floor of your closet. The space heater overloaded the circuit, causing a spark to ignite the kerosene," Grissom realized.

"Can you prove it? In court?" Frank asked hopefully.

"The evidence can," Grissom nodded confidently.

* * *

><p>"Hey. How you doing?" Nick greeted as he approached Tony, the teller.<p>

"Hey. Who do you want?" Tony asked.

"The runner…um, 702," Nick answered as he held up the hundred dollar bill, "I owe him a little cash."

"This isn't the only place he hangs out. But if you want me to give it to him," Tony offered.

"Um…you have an envelope I could use?" Nick asked.

"Yeah," Tony nodded.

Immediately, he reached behind the counter and pulled out an envelope. As he reached over, Nick noticed the very nice watch on his left hand. A sniffling Tony gave Nick an envelope.

"Nice watch," Nick complimented.

"Thanks," Tony thanked.

"Thought you were getting out of this business," Nick recalled curiously.

"Yeah, uh," Tony rubbed his sore red nose and sniffled once again, "It's my last day. Got a new job."

"Later," Nick nodded.

"Yeah," Tony said.

But as Nick turned and walked away, Tony sneezed, causing Nick to freeze. **(AN: haha! That rhymed!)** Slowly, Nick turned around to face Tony, who raises his eyes and looks at him. That was when Nick put two-and-two together. He realized what had happened the night of Joey's death.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Joey climbed into his car, glad that he was done with work for another day. When he shut the door, Tony rose up in the seat behind Joey. Joey didn't have the chance to defend himself. Tony just lifted the gun and fired it into the back of his head. Blood spurted all over the front glass. Hoping to cover for his crime, Tony pushed Joey forward against the steering wheel and took the money he had on him._

"_You're out of business, Joey," Tony proclaimed._

_Tony climbed out of the car from there…not without sneezing onto the glass. Ha! Busted!  
><em>_End flashback_

"New job, huh? Joey's old route?" Nick guessed as he stepped towards Tony, "Did you get so scared when you shot him that you forgot the money?"

"I want a lawyer," Tony suddenly announced.

"Well, you better get one that knows forensics…'cause we got you," Nick warned as he grabbed his radio, "Dispatch, victor 19. Code 462 on the 4-20 suspect Monaco."

* * *

><p>The guard opened the exterior wire gate that lead to freedom from the correctional facility. When they did, Frank Damon walked out. They finally proved he was innocent. He was home free. When he walked out, he saw Grissom and a little girl near his Tahoe. He approached him.<p>

"Thought you might need a ride," Grissom remarked before placing a hand on Kadelin's shoulder.

"Thanks. I'm OK," Frank kindly declined before noticing the little girl, "You must be Kadelin. Grissom here told me so much about you. Here. I got something for you."

Frank pulled out a nice little violet flower and placing it in her hair.

"There. You look pretty," Frank complimented.

"Thank you," Kady thanked.

That was when they noticed another car pull up. They turned and saw Rachel walking up along the desert sidewalk towards them. That was when Grissom realized something.

"Your sister. Who is she?" Grissom asked.

"Would you have helped me if I told you that my wife and I fought that night? That I was leaving her for another woman? For Rachel?" Frank questioned.

"We don't judge people," Grissom and Kady reassured him.

"It's funny. When I got out, I thought I'd feel…free," Frank sighed.

"And…?" Kady pressed.

"I feel…," Frank trailed off.

"Responsible?" Grissom offered.

Frank just nodded before heading towards Rachel. Grissom and Kady watched as they hugged each other and Frank twirled Rachel around on the spot.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Nick. Can I talk to you?" Catherine asked as she approached Nick in the locker room.<p>

"What's up?" Nick responded as he changed his shirt. **(A lot of ladies: *whistles appreciatively* Jason: Really?)**

"After we couldn't match the DNA to any of the runners and you took off your gloves in frustration, I noticed something paticular," Catherine started nervously.

"What?" Nick pressed.

"Do you still wear your old wedding ring?" Catherine nervously.

Nick froze as he hung his old shirt up. He was hoping no one would be able to catch on. He was hoping no one would find out that he still wears his old wedding ring. He managed to hide it pretty well…until now. Until Catherine caught him.

"When will you stop hanging on to the past? She's gone, Nick! Abigail's been dead for nearly four years! She's not going to come back! She's NEVER coming back!" Catherine screamed at him.

"You think I don't know that? You think I like the fact that every year, I struggle enjoying my own daughter's birthday because the age she turns reminds me of how many years my wife has been dead? That she's been taken from us too soon? You think I actually want to spend the majority of Kadelin's birthday grieving rather than seeing the joy on her face?" Nick retorted, "You think that I knew that I was going to end up raising our daughter on my own?"

Slowly, a lot of the lab techs and CSIs crowded around the locker room to see what was going on. Thankfully, for them, Grissom and Kady weren't back yet.

"You think you have it hard? You weren't there! You didn't see the fear on her face as that truck came hurtling towards us! You didn't see how she bent down so she could shield her unborn daughter! You didn't see the number plates from the truck literally slice through her! You didn't see how she had to keep fighting long enough just to give Kadelin a fighting chance! You didn't see Abigail when the accident happened, Nick! You didn't see your best friend practically die in front of you!" Catherine began sobbing, "And you don't have to deal with the fact that every year, the night before Kadelin's birthday, I have night terrors, Nick! Every year, I keep on reliving that accident! I keep reliving you coming out of that theatre to tell us that Abby died not long after Kady was born! But, hey! I've accepted that my best friend was dead! I've accepted that I was never going to solve cases with her again! But you're still clinging to the past! You're hoping this is all a dream and when you wake up, Abigail will be beside you! But she's won't be! Why? Because she's DEAD! She's gone, Nick! She's never coming back! You have to move on!"

Nick just stood there shocked as Catherine broke down in front of him. He never knew that she felt that way. He never knew that she had nightmares just before Kadelin's birthday. Immediately, he pulled Catherine against him and just let her cry. She needed to let it all out. In fact, he was glas she did. He needed a slap on the face to make him wake up to those facts. Deep down inside, he knew what Catherine's saying was true. Abigail's dead. She's not coming back. He needs to move on. Not just for his sake. But for Kady's sake.

"I'm sorry," Nick apologized, "I had no idea."

"It's OK. But you need to take off the ring, Nick. It's time. She would want you to," Catherine said as she patted his bare shoulder encouragingly.

Nick nodded and gulped nervously. She was right. He was ready. The time has come. Slowly, he reached for his wedding finger and touched the ring. He sighed sadly.

"I'll always love you, Abby," Nick whispered before slowly sliding the ring off his finger.

Catherine's tearful smile grew bigger as the ring travelled up Nick's finger. When it was finally off, she embraced him happily. There's no denying that she was proud of her friend. He took the final step he desperately needed to take. Struggling to return her embrace, Nick placed the ring on the top shelf.

"I brought your daughter back," Grissom sing-songed as he walked past the locker room.

"Hey! There's nothing to see here! Back to work!" Nick yelled at them.

Scared of what could happen, they scurried back to work. Nick and Catherine laughed at the sight. Nick detatched himself from Catherine and slid a nice snuggly shirt on him. **(Ladies: AW MAN!)**

"Go. You have a daughter to spend time with," Catherine laughed.

"That I do," Nick agreed as he ran out of the locker room.

Catherine just sat on the bench smiling to herself. She finally got her friend to see reason. He's finally closer to eventually moving on. Sure. He'll mourn her death on some occassions. Sure. He'll still miss her. Sure. The hole in his heart will remain. Sure. He'll face constant reminder of her passing every year. But he's finally healing.

He's finally learning to let it go.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that's that. Oh wait. Guess what episode's next…<strong>

**BOOM!**

**That's right! We're there! This is the biggest episode in the SEASON for Nick and Kady! This'll DEFINITELY define their relationship and how far Nick would take things if it concerns Kady.**

**You crazy lot know the drill.**

**Review!  
>Alert!<br>Fave!**

**Shouldn't be that hard to remember! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business to take care of.**

**BYE!**

***leaves the room***

**EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! YES! YES! YES! YES! WE'RE FINALLY THERE! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!**

***comes back***

**Sorry about that. Hey! Aren't you meant to be doing the drill?**

**BYE!**


	14. Boom

**Boom: A bomb explodes in the reception area of an office building, resulting in the death of a security guard working there. Grissom, Sara and Warrick launch an investigation to find out the bomber. And their prime suspect is another security guard who is just too eager to help them and has the knowledge to make a bomb similar to the one that blew up the building. Meanwhile, Nick's career and his future with Kadelin are on the line when he and Kristy Hopkins sleep together and Kristy is discovered in her house murdered hours later. Things only get worse when Nick's DNA and fingerprints are at the crime scene and Conrad Ecklie is the lead on the case. And when the Sheriff takes Kadelin away from Nick because he's the primary suspect in her murder, Catherine only has half a day before a warrent is issued for Nick's arrest for a murder he had no part in and he ends up losing Kadelin forever!**

**Next, To Halve and to Hold: A single bone is discovered in the desert by two boys placing fetch with their dog. Grissom, Catherine and Nick have to piece together the skeleton and figure out what happened to their victim. While they do that, a male stripper is found dead in a motel room after performing at a bachelorette party, leaving Warrick and Sara to find out who killed him, how he died and what were the circumstances that eventually lead to his death.**

**Then, Table Stakes: The home of the legendary Las Vegas showgirl, Portia Richmond, is the host of a fundraiser event for an organisation she's supporting. During the party, an uninvited guest is found floating in the pool dead. Eventually, Portia mysteriously disappears and the young couple who house-sat for her are the first suspects. The Sheriff gives Grissom nothing but grief and peer pressure due to the fact the case the working is big-time high-profile and the results and how they're obtained affects his campaign as he runs for mayor. Meanwhile, while everyone else is working the high-profile case, Warrick is working a mob hit in a glass elevator.**

**Later, Too Tough to Die: A woman is abducted from a parking garage, raped and left for dead. As she helps Grissom and Nick investigate, Sara finds herself getting emotional involved. Meanwhile, a Day Shift CSI has quit, leaving Catherine and Warrick to take over one of his cases that is about to go to trial: a neighbour's disbute that lead to one neighbour killing another. However, one important piece of evidence has mysteriously gone missing and the case is due in court in just four short days.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Face Lift  
><strong>**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler (Season 1 finale)**

**REVIEW REPLIES!**

**Caitlin: **_**I don't know if he can legally but in the story, he could just take her off of him because he's suspected of murder.**_

_**SO EXCITED!**_

_**xx**_

**Well, this is it. IT'S FINALLY HERE! IT'S BOOM! *happy dance* I know. I'm mental. hehehe This is just very exciting. Thanks for the advice about Ecklie taking Kady away. I needed that. Thanks for the review! Now let's pray to God I can give Boom some justice at least…**

**Well, as you people already know, aside from Kady, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation doesn't belong to me. If it did, Kristy wouldn't have been murdered and now I'm wishing I wrote this with Kady being a week old at the beginning instead of a toddler. Anyone wanna write that? Feel free. You can borrow Kady for it as long as you don't try to claim ownership of her.**

**Well, ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>"Hi, Renee," Dominic Kretzker greeted as he walked down the stairs of the Hansen Business Building.<p>

"Hi," Renee nodded.

"Good afternoon, Mr Ribero. How's the golf?" Dominic asked.

"Fine. How are you?" Mr Riberio replied.

"Hi. You look lost," Dominic said to a woman on the first floor before looking at the piece of paper she had, "OK. The stairs are all the way back to the left and the Real Estate Office is at the end of the hall. OK? Bye. *walks towards Nicole carrying a large vase of flowers* Hello. Oh! Those for me?"

"Hi, Dominic. Sign here," Nicole instructed.

"OK," Dominic nodded as he signed, "I'll tell you, though. This is going to worth a lot of money someday."

"I know, Elvis," Nicole laughed as she and Dominic traded the pad for the vase of flowers, "See you."

"OK. Bye-bye," Dominic said before Nicole left and Jake Richards walked up to him.

"Domino, it's your turn to pick up dinner," Jake reminded him.

"OK, Jake-O. Listen, uh, this goes to Cooley Real Estate," Dominic told him as he handed Jake the flowers, "That's on two, alright? And the Fed Ex is running a little bit late on the pickup. I'll be back in…hmm, about ten minutes, alright?"

"You got it," Jake ndoded.

"Alright, buddy," Dominic laughed before leaving.

When Dominic left, Jake placed the flowers he was given onto the counter nearby. Taking the opportunity, he glanced at the wall clock. 6:02 p.m. Not long until end of shift. Perfect! When Jake glanced down, he noticed something. A ticking noise of some sort. He looked at the stack of boxes and other items on the counter. Nothing there. He looked at the briefcase on the floor nearby. Yep. The mysterious ticking noise is coming from that briefcase. **(Jason: Snape. Snape. Severus Snape. Snape. Snape. Severus Snape. Me: That's for later. Jason: Oh. Right. Whoops.)** Time seemed to slow down as Jake reached for the briefcase. Eventually, time stopped altogether. Then suddenly…

_BOOM!_

The briefcase went off. Literally. It exploded. Jake was flung up and backwards. Fire and smoke alike confused a good portion of the lobby with its red hot embrace.

* * *

><p>"Oh, these fire guys really know how to trash a crime scene," Catherine Willows remarked as she and Gil Grissom approached the crime scene.<p>

"That's what they do. Put wet stuff on the red stuff," Grissom pointed out.

"We're all clear to go in. But here's what we got. Couple of head wounds. Elderly guy had his arm torn off. The only fatality so far is Jake Richards, a security guard. Body's still inside," Captain Jim Brass explained as they walked inside and took a look around, "How big do you think this bomb was?"

"It's not the size of the bomb. It's the overpressure in the air around it," Catherine retorted as they made their way towards the body.

"The Van Gogh effect. In stereo. Both ears gone. Brass, I reckon that Nick and Catherine are going to suffer from the stereo playing too loud when Kadelin and Lindsey are teenagers," Grissom laughed.

"A perfectly symmetrical amputation. Means he was looking directly at the bomb when it went off," Catherine stated, completely ignoring the remarks from Grissom.

"So either it drew his attention or it was contained in something that seemed benign," Grissom summised before continuing to look at the body while Catherine looked up and around, "Smell the sulfur?"

"Uh-huh," Catherine nodded.

"Got your lighter, Jim?" Grissom asked.

"Sure," Brass answered.

Smiling, Grissom took a small sample of the black stuff that consumed the body of Jake Richards and made him barely recognisable. He held it up to Brass for him to light.

"Light this," Grissom requested.

And so Brass did. When the flame came into contact with the black substance…

_SNAP! CRACKLE! POP!_

"Gunpowder," Catherine pointed out.

"Well, we know the propellant. So would you care to make a preliminary call on this?" Grissom offered.

"I'd love to," Catherine beamed as she stood up and moved to where the briefcase once was, "Seat of the bomb is here. Victim was thrown…three metres. His clothes are torn. But not burnt, indicating a low-velocity propellant. 6000-7000 feet per second. Who? Why? Will he do it again? Time will tell."

*music starts*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenherger<br>Gary Dourdan  
>George Eads<br>Jorja Fox  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

"The dirty little secret of bombs is how easy they are to make of use. Our murder weapon's here someplace in a thousand pieces," Grissom announced to Warrick Brown, Sara Sidle and Catherine as he walked around the place, "We have to find it and put it back together again."

"Where do we start?" Warrick asked.

"If it's not growing, pick it up. We cart everything we find back to the lab," Grissom instructed.

"And then what?" Sara wanted to know.

"Stay curious," was all Grissom replied with.

Grissom then turned his back to Sara as he proceeded to sift through the mountain of debris. Sara was still confused as to how they were going to approach this bombing case. Desperate for help, she turned to Catherine.

"Can you fill in the blanks?" Sara pleaded.

"Bombs explode. Weird thing is their components survive the explosion. If we can piece together this bomb, we're closer to finding who did this. So, Warrick, when you're photographing this debris, can you, uh…?" Catherine trailed off.

"Uh, I know. Looky-loos," Warrick nodded.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Nick. It's my last night in Sin City. One more drink, man," Eric pleaded Nick Stokes as they left the Orpheus Hotel and Casino.<p>

"Oh no. I just pulled a double and I still have to file my shift report," Nick kindly declined as he shifted his three-year-old daughter Kadelin 'Kady' Stokes further up his hip.

"Hey. You're off the clock. You'd have never passed up a wild night back at A&M," Eric recalled.

"Well, I guess I grew up. Plus, I have a daughter and I happen to be a single father," Nick reminded him.

"Too bad. Check that out," Eric practically whistled as he preferred to the two ladies walking by.

"Enjoy," Nick chuckled as they shook hands.

"You must really love your job," Eric remarked as he ruffled Kady's head.

"But I love my daughter more," Nick retorted as he held Kady closer to his well-built chest.

"Ladies!" Eric called as he ran towards the two ladies that walked past them before, causing Nick and Kady to laugh and shake their heads.

"Eric. You gotta love him," Nick and Kady sighed.

"Come on. I gotta get you home to bed," Nick remarked as the valet drives up in his car.

"But I'm not tired!" Kady protested.

"Hey, I know you. I can see it in your eyes that you're tired," Nick retorted.

"Rats!" Kady cursed. **(AN: HEY! THAT'S MY LINE!)**

Nick just laughed at her cuteness and nuzzled noses with her affectionately as he reached into his pocket for a tip, "Here you go. Thanks, man."

"Thank you," the valet nodded.

"Come on. In you go," Nick said as he went to buckle Kady in.

"Get your hands off me! Let go of me! You don't own me! Nobody does!"

"You're not going anywhere! You got that?"

"Daddy, look!" Kady gasped as she pointed to the commotion nearby.

Nick did. To his surprise, he saw a familiar face. He saw Kristy Hopkins. However, once again, she was in trouble. Nick and Kady saw her arguing with a man who was grasping her upper arm. His name would be later revealed to be Jack Willman.

"Come on. Relax a little bit. Settle down," Jack pleaded.

"Kristy?" Nick called out as he and Kady approached him, "Kady, stay with me."

"You don't own me, Jack," Kristy reminded him.

"Kristy!" Kady yelled as she and Nick crossed the street.

"Nobody does," Kristy went on.

"I know, I know," Jack sighed.

"Hey! Back off," Nick requested as he finally reached them.

"Hey. Just mind your own business," Jack advised.

"Nick," Kristy pleaded him, "I know him. He's a cop."

"Crime Scene Investigator," Nick corrected.

"Nick, tell him to leave me alone," Kristy begged him.

"Nobody tells me to do anything!" Jack boasted.

"Wanna bet?" Kady retorted.

"Shut it, you little weasel," Jack threatened dangerously.

"Hey! That's his daughter you're talking to," Kristy warned him as she noticed the murder look on Nick's face.

"Just shut it-."

"Hey! We going to have a problem?" Nick asked.

"No, officer. We're not going to have a problem. See you around, baby," Jack said as he kissed Kristy's neck before letting her go and leaving.

"Freak!" Kady and Kristy called out after him, causing the two of them to look at each other and laugh.

"You OK?" Nick asked worriedly.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine. That was good timing. Thanks," Kristy thanked.

"No problem," Kady nodded as she hugged Kristy around her legs, causing Nick to smile at the sight of the two of them bonding.

"I suppose you need a ride," Nick guessed.

"Do you mind?" Kristy asked nervously.

"Not at all," Kady reassured her.

"Come on," Nick invited as he scooped Kady into his arms.

"Thanks," Kristy sighed in relief.

* * *

><p>"Seems like every time we run into each other, I'm getting into trouble," Kristy remarked as Nick pulled up into her driveway.<p>

"Not that it's any of my business but maybe you should think about changing careers," Nick suggested with a laugh.

"Not every John is like that guy," Kristy defended, "Besides, I'm making a change. I'm going back to school."

"Yeah?" Nick asked.

"I've always wanted to study communications. I'm good with people," Kristy confessed.

"That's good," Nick complimented.

"You think so?" Kristy asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Nick nodded.

"Well, I'm going to go inside now," Kristy decided, "Unless, of course, you'd like to come in for a drink."

"I don't think that's a good idea. Besides, I need to get her home and into bed. She had a big day today at the doctors. She had her six-month check-up. Normally, kids have to go once a year. But the doctor's noticing something odd. So we have to go every six months. But he won't tell me what," Nick sighed in frustration. **(AN: Spoiler for something that's going to happen in season three. I can tell you one thing. It's a pretty bad illness.)**

"Come on. Just 'cause you're a crime scene analyst, you don't have to analyze everything," Kristy remarked, causing them to laugh, "Besides, I have a guest bedroom ready in case something happens. While you're inside, Kady could sleep in there."

"OK," Nick relented, causing Kristy to smile and they turned to look at Kady asleep in the back seat.

* * *

><p>At the Hansen building, Sara, Warrick and Catherine continued to search through the reckage and gather evidence as they found the pieces. From bomb shrapnels to anything that could tie the device to the bomber. This time, Catherine found a portion of some sort of gear. After dusting it off, she looked at the piece she found under the magnifying glass she had on her person.<p>

"F.P," she read the letters etched into the gear piece.

Meanwhile, Grissom walked outside. Once he was outside, he was noticed by someone. I'll give you three guesses who.

"Mr Grissom!"

Yep. It's Dominic Kretzker, the other security guard who worked at the Hansen Building…well, until it was blown up anyway.

"Oh, uh…hi. I've…I've, um, I've seen you on TV before. I admire your work," Dominic stuttered, flustered. Wow. That's a first.

"Well, thank you. And your name is…?" Grissom asked.

"Dominic. Uh, 'I-C' rather than with the 'I-C-K'…uh, Kretzker. I'm the, uh, Hanson Building Security Detail," Dominic introduced himself.

"Did somebody from homicide talk to you yet?" Grissom questioned.

"Yeah. As a matter of fact, they said that I was going to be talking to you. Because, well, we are…you know, we're both in law enforcement, and-."

"Right. Did you know the victim – the other security guard?" Grissom asked.

"Oh yeah. He was one of my best buddies. As a matter of fact, you know, two minutes' difference, it would've been my face all over the news instead of his, right?" Dominic remarked as he gestured to the news cameras and reporters behind the crime scene tape.

"Would you, uh, like to be on the news?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Yeah. Yeah. I mean…only if I could help people, yes. No. No. I know what you're thinking. Uh, you know, my building blows up, I'm over at Arby's sucking down some extra sauce. You know, how could I want to help people, right?" Dominic asked rhetorically.

"Well, I mean, realistically, what could you have done?" Grissom retorted.

"Well, I know a lot about bombs. You know, pipe, power, powder. The three 'Ps' of mass destruction," Dominic boasted.

"Huh. Dominic…with an 'I-C' not 'I-C-K'," Grissom started.

"Yes, sir?" Dominic pressed.

"Would you be interested in helping me with my investigation?" Grissom offered.

"Are you serious? Yeah. Yes, sir. I'd be honoured, sir. Oh. But we can't tell anybody on the day shift, though. Because they're going to get real jealous," Dominic warned.

"That's good thinking. Would you excuse me a minute?" Grissom asked.

"Yes," Dominic nodded.

"Keep an eye on that guy," Grissom instructed an officer before heading back inside the building.

"OH YES!" Dominic cheered.

"Well, we got a live one out there. I got a cop baby-sitting him. How you doing?" Grissom asked Catherine.

"Are his initials FP?" Catherine questioned.

"No. Dominic Kretzker. Why?" Grissom quizzed.

"I found this near the point of origin," Catherine said as she showed him the gear piece, "Whoever did this is playing with us."

"Or he wants to get caught," Grissom piped in.

* * *

><p>"Hey. It's me. You in the shower? What are you doing? Anyway, if you check your messages, I don't have to work till later. So I thought, since you're between careers, you might want to grab a late…"<p>

Nick trailed off as he pulled up in front of Kristy's house and saw the officer cars surrounding it.

"Breakfast," Nick finished nervously.

"Daddy, what's-?" Kady began asking.

"Shhh," Nick kindly shushed his daughter as Officer Arvington approached him.

"Hey, Nick, Hey, Kady. What's up?" Arvington greeted.

"Not a lot. What's…what's going on?" Nick asked.

"It's a 419. Dead prostitute," Arvington answered.

"Who's the decedent?" Nick questioned nervously.

"Kristine Marie Hopkins. Day shift's got it covered," Arvington told him as he noticed Nick and Kady's facial expressions, "You guys alright?"

Nick didn't answer right away. He saw Conrad Ecklie and the lead detective for the case walking down the driveway. Deep down inside, he knew something bad was going to happen.

"Yeah. I must've, uh…I must've got my wires crossed," Nick lied, "I'll see you."

"Alright, man," Arvington nodded as Nick drove away.

"Daddy, what's gonna happen?" Kady asked with fear that caused Nick's heart to shatter even more.

"I don't know, baby," Nick sighed sadly as he reached one hand into the back seat to grab her small hands, "I don't know."

* * *

><p>"Alright. You cram this thing here with gunpowder, alright? Then you cap it here and you cap it here. Now the grain's inside, alright…they're going to ignite and cause smoke. Lots and lots of smoke…now the problem is, all that smoke's here, man. It's got nowhere to go. OK? It starts cooking…and then…Bob's your uncle. BOOM!" Dominic was explaining how bombs work to Brass and Warrick in the interview room at the LVPD.<p>

"Grissom was right. You do know a lot about bombs," Warrick remarked.

"How did you learn so much?" Brass asked.

"Oh, they don't teach this stuff at universities. No, this is all trial and error," Dominic answered.

"So what, you just, uh, blow up bombs and study them?" Brass guessed.

"Yeah. Yeah…," Dominic agreed.

"If only Nick didn't have the day off. Kady would've thought that this stuff was cool," Warrick chuckled.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and a woman named Margaret Finn walked in.

"Margaret Finn. Public Defender," Margaret introduced herself, "Cease and desist any conversation with my client. I've been assigned to you. Guess the PD was thinking of all the lawsuits Richard Jewell brought in when he was wrongfulyl accused."

"Someone died in that office building," Brass retorted.

"Ma'am, you seem like a very nice person. But these people – they've been very, very good to me," Dominic reassured her.

"I'm sure they have," Margaret agreed sarcastically.

"Dominic, I think you should go with your attorney," Warrick suggested, "Thanks for your help, though."

"Alright. I'll see you guys later," Dominic nodded, "Listen. Do me a favor. Will you tell Grissom that, if he needs me, just call me at home, OK?"

"Alright," Brass promised.

"Let's roll," Dominic said to his attorney before leaving.

* * *

><p>"So all this stuff is from a five-metre radius of the point of origin?" Sara summised everything Catherine's explained to her so far.<p>

"Yep," Catherine nodded.

"How could the victim possibly have been in one piece?" Sara asked in disbelief.

"Vacuum effect. The air is being pushed out so fast, when the bomb detonates, there's a calm at the centre," Catherine explained.

"Calm, huh?" Sara repeated curiously.

"Well, except for when he lost his ears," Catherine remarked.

"Did you figure out what this 'FP' stands for?" Sara questioned.

"I ran it through ATF's bomb database. No profile," Catherine sighed.

"So our bomber's a newbie. Does he fit Grissom's wack job from the bomb site?" Sara wanted to know.

"Dominic the security guard? Too soon to tell," Catherine shrugged.

"I found something interesting," Grissom announced as he walked in carrying something.

"What is it?" Sara quizzed.

"Looks like a balance wheel from a clock," Catherine stated upon closer inspection.

"Bomb was time-delayed. This is a piece of the timing device," Grissom explained.

"What about the orange stuff?" Sara asked.

"Heat of the explosion must have melted whatever it is all around the wheel. So, Sara?" Grissom started.

"Mmm?" Sara hummed.

"What's orange and melts?" Grissom finally asked her.

"I would have to investigate that," Sara answered.

"Thank you," Grissom nodded before feeling someone tugging on his pant leg, "Kadelin! I thought I gave your daddy the day off!"

"Daddy needs to talk to you, Uncle Gil," Kady told him.

"We're busy here, sweetheart. Can Daddy wait?" Catherine pleaded.

"He said it's an emergency. Please, Uncle Gil. Daddy could be in trouble," Kady told him.

That changed Grissom's mind at once.

"Kadelin, stay here with Aunty Cathy and Aunty Sara. I'll go talk to Daddy, OK?" Grissom promised her before kissing her cheek and handed her to Sara.

"What happened to your Daddy, sweetheart?" Sara asked her.

"Daddy made me promise not to tell," Kady zipped her lips.

"Please, sunshine. We can't help Daddy unless you tell me what's going on," Catherine told her.

"Last night, Daddy and I saw Kristy again. We went to her place when I was asleep. Daddy and I spent a few hours there. And then…," Kady trailed off nervously.

"KT, it's OK. You can tell us," Sara reassured her goddaughter.

"You don't have to be afraid. We won't let anything happen to Nicky. We promise," Catherine swore.

"Kristy's dead. Somebody murdered her. Ecklie's at her house now," Kady announced, causing Sara and Catherine to gasp as they realized what was going on and what could happen.

* * *

><p>"You told me you weren't dating her," Grissom sighed.<p>

"I wasn't till last night after I broke up her fight with this guy, uh…Jack," Nick defended.

"And Ecklie's at her house now," Grissom repeated.

"Yeah. And I can tell you what he's going to find. My fingerprints, my DNA and maybe some evidence of Kady being there as well," Nick stated, causing Grissom's head to shoot up and to glare at him for possibly endangering his goddaughter into heading towards the life of a criminal.

"What were you thinking, Nicky?" Grissom asked him.

"I wasn't," Nick confessed, "We had a connection, you know? A chemistry thing, I guess. I hadn't felt that way since Abby was in my life. She was irresistable, man. Kady was asleep in the guest room next door. The two of us took off around four."

"Ecklie's gonna be all over this," Grissom pointed out.

"Hey, Nick," Catherine greeted as she walked in, "I'm sorry to hear about your friend."

"Who told you?" Nick demanded as Catherine squeezed his shoulder.

"Word travels. It was the day shift coroner," Catherine explained.

"So people know I was with Kristy last night?" Nick guessed.

"Just me and Sara. We made Kady tell us what happened," Catherine confessed.

"Maybe I should just go to Ecklie and tell him I was there," Nick sighed.

"When you're a suspect and you're innocent, keep your mouth shut," Grissom cut in, "I'll talk to Ecklie."

"Bad idea. You and Ecklie; oil and water," Catherine remarked, "Just let me get into it."

"I can't just sit here!" Nick exclaimed as he bolted upright out of his chair.

"OK. Go for a walk. Maybe you'll accidentally bump into your guy, Jack?" Grissom smirked at Nick.

"Yeah," Nick realized what Grissom was getting at and turned to leave.

"I.D him. But don't approach him," Grissom warned, "We'll watch Kadelin until you get back. If Ecklie tries to do anything with her, we'll be there trying to stop him."

"OK," Nick nodded before turning around and leaving the office.

"If Nick's arrested, it's not going to matter that he's cleared later," Catherine pointed out as she sat down in front of Grissom.

"No. It's an automatic dismissal," Grissom added.

"We can't let that happen, Grissom. Nick's a single father. He has a three-year-old to support. Because the fact that he was arrested for a murder he didn't commit will be on his record, it won't matter if the charges are dropped later. He'll have trouble getting a good job anywhere else."

"I know. That's why we have to try to stop Ecklie from doing anything to Nick and/or Kady. Because what he does to them will affect their futures. Separate and together," Grissom remarked.

* * *

><p>"25-year-old female caucasian. Liver temp's indicating time of death at 0600. Petichial hemorrhaging, cyanotic tongue," Doc Robbins observed as Catherine walked in, "Can I help you, Catherine."<p>

"I just want to see the body, David," Catherine requested.

"Unless I'm mistaken, this is Ecklie's case," Grissom pointed out.

"Eyes. No hands," Catherine promised before looking at the body of Kristy Hopkins, "Wow. Look at those ligature marks."

"Petichials…blue tongue, the works," Doc Robbins listed.

"Raccoon eyes. Excoriation around the neck. She didn't give up easy," Catherine remarked.

"Struggled and strangled," Doc Robbins announced.

"Ecklie find the murder weapon?" Catherine asked.

"I only deal with bodies," Doc Robbins sighed.

"Did you check for fingerprints on the body?" Catherine questioned.

"Not yet," Doc Robbins shook his head.

"Half-life of fingerprints on flesh. They're disappearing as we speak," Catherine pointed out.

"Catherine, I like Nick, too. And I absolutely adore sweet little Kadelin. I know you're here for them. But what if I lift Nick's prints from her?" Doc Robbins wanted to know.

"Then that's what you report," Catheirne answered, "Evidence, Doc…it's all we got."

* * *

><p>CAN SOMEONE SHUT THAT DAMN ALARM OFF? Oh wait. It's Grissom testing clocks while studying the pieces of the bomb. When he looked up, he saw Sara.<p>

"Hey!" she greeted.

"Could you find that and turn it off please?" Grissom requested kindly before Sara found it and turned it off.

"Find the clock our guy used?" Sara asked.

"Not yet," Grissom sighed.

"This is a good choice. According to the bomb data centre which has a record of every component used in any bomb – from Ted Kaczynski to teenage boys playing with fireworks – the most recent timing device of choice is made by TimeTell SnoozeWell. $10.99 at any local drugstore," Sara announced.

"You spoiled all my fun," Grissom pouted as he started unscrewing the back of the clock.

"Griss, can I get clear on something here?" Warrick asked as he walked into Grissom's office.

"Anything's possible," Grissom commented.

"Catherine gave me this FP which was part of the Hanson bomb and I'm supposed to figure out what tool the bomber used to engrave it," Warrick started.

"You isolate the tool, and then we trace it," Grissom summised.

"Yeah. But he could've used any number of things to initial it. I mean, screwdriver, a drill bit, a box cutter," Warrick began listing all the possibilities that exist.

"It's the same as guns. We eliminate them one at a time," Grissom explained.

"What are you guys doing?" Warrick asked.

"We're going to go blow up some bombs," Sara answered smugly.

"Oh, I definitely got the wrong end of this investigation," Warrick remarked.

"Alas, poor Warrick," Grissom sighed as Warrick left.

* * *

><p>"Oh, hey, uh, Conrad. Grissom's in the field," Catherine told Ecklie as she and Kady ran into him.<p>

"I need to speak with him," Ecklie announced.

"And I need to speak with you…about Nick Stokes," Catherine retorted.

"Well, let me guess…about his involvement with a dead hooker?" Ecklie guessed.

"Come on. The hooker was a person. Her name was Kristy Hopkins," Catherine said.

"I realize that. Thank you. I just came from the lab. His prints were all over Kristy Hopkins' house. Let's see, wine glass…oh, bedside table. In both the master bedroom and the guest bedroom," Ecklie told her.

"How's it going, Cath?" Nick asked as he walked up to them, "Hey, butterfly."

"Hey, daddy," Kady greeted her daddy as she hugged his legs as he stroked her soft, lucious honey brown curls.

"Nick, I don't think that you guys should be talking," Catherine warned.

"It's no big deal," Nick reassured his friend, "What's up, Ecklie?"

"I need a DNA sample from you, Nick," Ecklie requested.

"I assume you're trying to prove Kristy Hopkins and I were sexually active last night," Nick…well, assumed.

"We found a condom. Used," Ecklie told him.

"And my DNA will match. No warrant necessary. I wasn't ready to become a father a second time. And I have something else for you. I got this off a valet surveillance tape," Nick said as he handed Ecklie a piece of paper with writing on it, "A license plate number. Vehicle belongs to Jack Willman. Had a fight with Kristy Hopkins outside the Orpheus last night around midnight. I had to break it up"

"Well, I'll look into it. But come on. Your fingerprints, your DNA, evidence of Kadelin asleep in the next room just hours before the time of death – that's what's going into evidence," Ecklie proclaimed.

"You just love that, don't you?" Nick sighed in frustration.

"You think I want to believe that a CSI could commit murder? Hell. I don't even want to believe that a CSI could sleep with a hooker with his three-year-old daughter in the next room," Ecklie retorted.

"You know what? Nick's private life…," Catherine started.

"Is no longer private," Ecklie interrupted, "Catherine, I'm sorry if you guys don't like where the evidence is pointing. But show me otherwise. Tell me I'm wrong. In the meantime, my hands are tied. I have protocal to follow."

"I hate that guy!" Nick growled as Ecklie left.

"OK. Look. I'm going to get O'Riley to track down this Jack guy for questioning. But I am out on a limb for you and Kady here, Nick. Just don't make it harder with Ecklie, OK?" Catherine pleaded.

"Yeah," Nick nodded.

* * *

><p>"We find the bomber by understanding the bomb. Fortunately, Catherine figured out the exterior container," Grissom remarked to Sara as they prepared their experiment in the desert.<p>

"Aluminum briefcase," Sara said as they headed to the side.

"And we know the timing device," Grissom stated.

"SnoozeWell," Sara added.

"And the propellant," Grissom went on.

"Black gunpowder," Sara pointed out.

"So the final piece of the bomber's signature?" Grissom asked.

"Identify the pipe containing the powder," Sara answered.

"Three bombs scaled down five-to-one three different metal pipes. Different metals fly different distances when the same force is applied. Number one is a plumber's ex-flow pipe. Number two is an inflow pipe which is thinner. Number three is galvanized steel which is the tinnest metal of all," Grissom explained as they reached the safe blast distance and slid on their earphones.

"You ready?" Sara asked with a hand on his shoulder.

"Mm-hmm," Grissom nodded.

"Let's do it, Dan," Sara said.

Dan gave Sara the thumbs up and ignited the first boom.

_BOOM!_

"Green. That's the ex-flow pipe," Grissom told Sara.

_BOOM!_

"Inflow pipe – blue," Grissom stated.

_BOOM!_

"Red – the galvanized steel," Grissom informed.

Moments later, Grissom and Sara were measuring the distance of each bomb from the blast centre…well, Grissom was measuring. Sara was following him with evidence markers ready to go.

"Last piece of green: ten feet," Grissom announced as Sara placed the evidence marker down, "Blue: sixteen feet," Sara placed the second evidence marker down, "Red: twenty feet."

"Fragments from the galvanized steel traveled the farthest," Sara stated as Grissom examined a piece of the metal.

"20 feet. Extrapolating five to one, that would be 100 feet," Grissom pointed out.

"That's the outer limit of visible metal detritus at the Hansen Building," Sara realized.

"So the bomb was housed in a thin container of galvanized steel – like a muffler or a tailpipe. I've seen it before. It's a common container for housemades," Grissom remarked.

"Don't you love the smell of sulfur in the afternoon?" Sara asked rhetorically, "You might want to go and take a tour of Dominic Kretzker's house. I tracked down the sale of SnoozeWell clocks. 926 credit card purchases in the last three months in Clark County – seven to Dominic Kretzker of Prairie Road."

* * *

><p>"<em>15, cal 24 is your backup.<em>"

Cool! A police scanner! It'd be nice to be able to have one. Anyways, when Brass and Grissom pulled up at his residence, Dominic Kretzker himself was on the front porch waiting for them.

"Hey, hey!" Dominic greeted as they walked up.

"That your scanner?" Brass asked.

"Yeah. That's how I knew you were coming. Makes me feel like I'm part of things," Dominic remarked as they shook hands, "Mr Grissom. What can I do for you guys?"

"Dominic...this is the type of device that was used to set off the Hansen bomb. We have proof that you purchased the same make of clock," Grissom announced as he showed the clock.

"Yeah. Yeah, I recognize that. That houses a nice little detonator," Dominic commented.

"Want to show us that clock of yours?" Brass asked.

"Why, sure. Come on in," Dominic invited as they headed inside, "This place is kind of a mess. Sorry. Here. Here it is."

While Brass and Grissom observed the mess that surrounded them, Dominic reached into a box he placed on the table and picked up the alarm clock they were talking about,

"TimeTell SnoozeWell. $10.99. Well, you can get it for half price if you got a coupon."

"The timing device is still intact," Grissom observed upon closer inspection.

"Yeah. 'Cause I haven't made the bomb yet," Dominic told them.

"But you have made bombs before using parts from this make?" Grissom asked.

"Well, yeah. Yeah. I blow them out in back all the time. I blasted a few of them a couple of months ago," Dominic answered.

"Look what I found. Sulfur. You blow up any bombs recently," Brass questioned as he held up pieces of a bomb with globs of melted orange sheltering it from the harsh realities of Vegas.

"Is this from the Hansen bomb?" Grissom demanded.

"Sure is," Dominic nodded.

"You keep your key piece of evidence that could nail you?" Brass asked in disbelief.

"Hey. That's sentimental," Dominic retorted.

"Well, that's cute," Brass remarked.

"No. I mean, it is. That's like, you know, Waco and Trade Centre. That's historical. I didn't have a war, alright? I'm too flatfooted for the P.D. And that's as close to history as I'm going to get. I collect souvenirs. I mean, th-that's my building, you know. I mean...that was my employment, man," Dominic stuttered.

"You're going to be sorry talking to my client," Margaret swore as she walked into the living room.

"We called you. We left word," Brass defended.

"Dominic, don't speak," Margaret warned.

"If I had anything to hide, I'd hide it. I'm pretty proud of that container piece. I'll tell you," Dominic confessed.

"Well, maybe so. But you're under arrest. Put him in the car," Brass requested.

"You-you kidding?" Dominic asked Grissom as an officer came forward and placed the handcuffs on his wrists, "Cuffs?"

"Well, vultures never sleep, huh?" Brass remarked as they saw news crews and cameras approaching.

"Could you do me a favour? Will you put the jacket over them? I don't want to be seen like this. Especially on TV. This is not who I am," Dominic pleaded Grissom before the jacket was placed over the handcuffs, "Thanks, Partner."

With that said, the officer led Dominic out of his house. All Grissom could do was watch him as he left...and talk to Brass, obviously.

"I can't tell whether he's brilliant...or nuts," Grissom confessed sheepishly.

"Sound familiar? Tell you one thing: if he's guilty, he's putting on one hell of a show," Brass commented.

* * *

><p>Back at the lab, Sara is getting closer and closer to identifying the orange substance surrounding the fragments of the bomb from the Hansen Building. Maybe if they identified the substance, they'll head even closer to the end of the road where the bomber's identity would be revealed to them. When she placed the substance into the tube, it was tested. But it was the results that surprised her.<p>

"Polyethylene? Terephtalete?" Sara read out in confusion.

Polyethylene? Terephtalete? What the heck does that mean? How does it bring them closer to the bomber? Well, gentleness doesn't get work done unless you happen to be a hen laying eggs. And eventually, just like every case, everything will fall into place. All they need is the time for everything to...just happen.

* * *

><p>OK. Everyone here knows how Nick is against bringing his young daughter to the morgue, right? Well, today he decided to make an exception. Aside from Catherine, Kady loved Kristy like a mother despite knowing her for a short time. Well, she never had the opportunity to meet her mother. So it's easy for her to look up to any woman she meets as a mother figure in her life.<p>

So as Doc Robbins pulled the table out and removed the sheet covering Kristy's face, Nick felt sick inside. This brought him back to almost three years ago. It was the day after Abby had died. While Warrick was playing with Kady (instead of going to work after court, he snuck to the hospital to spend time with her so Nick could get the funeral affairs in order), he went down to the morgue to say goodbye to his wife. He never thought this would be happening to him again. Wow. God really doesn't seem to be treating him kind. Well, when he took Abby away, he gave him a beautiful daughter in her place. That's one good thing done.

"You contact her family?" Kady asked him.

"No family to speak of," Doc Robbins sighed sadly.

"Has anyone claimed her for burial? Friend? Old roomate?" Nick pressed.

"There's no one. City will be footing the bill," Doc Robbins told them.

"No. I'll pay," Nick announced after staring long and hard at another woman he loved and lost to the greatest miracle in his life: his beautiful daughter.

"Sure that's prudent, given the circumstances?" Doc Robbins questioned nervously.

"Doc, I'm giving this girl a proper burial. I don't much care about my career right now. Someone wants to throw me in jail for that, so be it," Nick retorted rather harshly.

Kady kissed two fingers and placed them on Kristy's forehead before hiding her face in the crook of Nick's neck. The sight touched Nick's heart. It touched Doc Robbins' heart as well. Hell. If Ecklie was here, the sight would touch his heart too. And Nick and Kady aren't exactly Ecklie's biggest fans at the moment. In fact, no one on Graveyard is. Not with what Ecklie's doing now.

* * *

><p>"How you doing?" Grissom asked Dominic as he approached his cell.<p>

"Just kind of using the current experience to understand the other side of law enforcement," Dominic sighed sadly.

"That's resourceful," Grissom complimented.

"You think I'm guilty, don't you?" Dominic blurted.

"I think the evidence raises some serious questions about your involvement," Grissom confessed.

"This is crazy. I mean, come on. I'm one of the good guys. I know the cops went through my things. Did they find anything?" Dominic asked nervously.

"Dominic, you have an attorney now. I can't really talk to you about your case," Grissom told him, "I was here on another matter and I thought I'd come by."

"You do what I do," Dominic suddenly said.

"Excuse me?" Grissom demanded.

"You don't just, like stop by to see someone. You...make up an excuse like 'I'm in the area. Just stopping by.' Wow. You're just like me. Except better-looking," Dominic remarked.

"And I have a goddaughter," Grissom piped in.

"You do?" Dominic asked.

"Her name's Kadelin. She's the sweetest little thing. "I'll come by and see you later, OK?" Grissom nodded.

"OK," Dominic nodded.

But as Grissom approached the open doorway, he saw Brass standing there looking grim.

"What?" Grissom asked worriedly.

"Bad news. Another Fourth of July," Brass announced.

"Where?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Thrift Right Car Rental on Flamingo. Ten minutes ago," Brass answered.

* * *

><p>Emergency personel were flooding the Thrift Right Car Rental business on Flamingo. Good news: they have more evidence to go on. Bad news: the rain's contaminating most of it.<p>

"So the manager was working the lot when he heard the blast. Fatality was on the check-in line and died on the way to the hospital," Brass explained.

"Anybody report hearing any noise? Ticking?" Sara asked.

"No. No one heard anything," Brass answered.

"Oh. It's not the firemen. It's the rain. This crime scene is trashed," Sara moaned as Grissom picked up something, "What do you have?"

"Form follows function. They've never been able to make a better one. Mousetrap," was all Grissom said.

"That orange stuff again," Sara observed.

"Someone picks it up motion trips the trap, sets off the timer," Grissom started.

"Which sets off the bomb," Sara finished for him before looking around and noticing something, "Be right back."

As Sara left and headed towards the manager who was being interviewed by the officer, Grissom turned to Brass.

"We say nothing to the media or anybody. Our bomber's signature just got a little more sophisticated," Grissom announced.

"Excuse me. Hi. I'm with the Crime Lab. I'm sorry. But I have to take your jacket," Sara announced.

"Um...OK. If it'll help," the manager shrugged before taking his jacket off and giving it to Sara.

"Thanks," Sara thanked before the manager was lead away.

"What are you doing?" Grissom demanded.

"Polyethylene-terephtalete," Sara recited as she held up the recently-acquired jacket.

"Polyester," Grissom realized.

"Orange stuff," Sara piped in.

* * *

><p>"You're free to go," Grissom announced as Dominic's jail cell was opened.<p>

"You mean you weren't just in the neighbourhood?" Dominic summised, "That second bomb – it wasn't remote, was it? Otherwise, I'd still be a suspect."

"I can't discuss it," Grissom repeated.

"So I guess you're not going to be needing my expertise anymore. I mean, investigation-wise. I knew it was too good to be true," Dominic sighed sadly before saluting Grissom, "Well, proud to have worked with you, sir."

"Dominic...I'm not a police officer. I-I-I'm a Crime Scene Analyst," Grissom reminded him.

"Yeah. But we know who really solves the crimes, don't we, sir?" Dominic retorted as they shook hands.

"Good luck. Take care of yourself," Grissom advised.

"Thank you," Dominic thanked before Grissom turned to leave.

"Hey, Dom?" Grissom started.

"Yeah?" Dominic responded.

"Next time, try not to be quite so trusting," Grissom suggested, "You don't need to be a hero."

With those words of wisdom said, Grissom walked away from the holding facility for real this time.

* * *

><p>Hey! They found Jack Willman! YAY! Whoa. Wait. WHAT? They actually FOUND Jack Willman? Oh... This will NOT be good...<p>

"I ran priors. The guy's got an '88 conviction for sexual assaults," Catherine told Ecklie in the observation room.

"Boy, if I ever get in trouble, I know which CSI I'm going to," Ecklie remarked smugly.

"Let's watch the show," Catherine suggested in annoyance.

* * *

><p>"How would you characterize your relationship with Kristy Hopkins?" Detective O'Riley asked.<p>

"Sir, we can just cut the crap. I saw him kill Kristy. I saw everything," Jack cut O'Riley short. **(Jason: Uh-oh... Me: Got that right.)**

"Go on," O'Riley invited.

"Well, Kristy and I, we had words. I was just swinging by her place to tell her I was sorry. But, uh...I didn't expect to see her with a guy. They were fighting. I couldn't make out what they were saying. But he was pushing her around pretty hard. And worst thing is the fact that the guy who murdered Kristy Hopkins has a young daughter who just happened to be asleep in the next room when all this was happening," Jack lied.

"Could you I.D this guy?" O'Riley questioned. **(Me: You had to ask it, didn't you? Jason: Ice, shut up. You already know what happens. Me: Hey. With me writing this, you never know what's going to happen. Even I don't know what's going to happen next. And that's saying something. LEGGO!)**

"It was, like, Nick something. Kristy and I bumped into him and his daughter at the Orpheus earlier," Jack recalled.

"And you saw him kill her?" O'Riley repeated.

"Well, I saw him get violent. And I took off," Jack replied.

"And you didn't try to help the girl?" O'Riley asked.

"He's one of you guys. He carries a gun. So, could I go?" Jack requested.

O'Riley looked at the mirror in the interview room. He knew Catherine was behind that mirror seeing everything and hearing everything perfectly. He knew she wasn't liking what's unfolding. He knew she didn't want to believe any of it. He knew she's going to try and prove his innocence. And if it wasn't to save his career, it was to make sure that Nick and Kady stayed together. But he didn't have any choice. He doesn't have anything that would allow him to hold Jack Willman for. And even if he did, it still wouldn't be enough.

"Yeah," O'Riley nodded.

* * *

><p>"The witness sounds believable," Conrad stated smugly.<p>

"It's a load of crap and you know it," Catherine retorted.

"I was listening. He seemed credible to me," Sheriff Brian Mobley remarked as he walked in carrying a distressed Kadelin. **(Jason: Oh my God. You're so evil. Me: I know. And I'm proud of it.)**

"Sheriff, you arrest Nick now, you end his career. And what the hell are you doing with Kady?" Catherine demanded harshly as she went to grab Kady.

"You have no right to be anywhere near Kadelin," Brian announced, shocking Catherine – and even Ecklie – to the core.

"What do you mean I have no right? That is my goddaughter you're holding right there. Why do you even have her?" Catherine asked.

"I sent a letter of notice to Mr Stokes prior to this action. I am to hold her until someone from Child Services arrives to pick her up," Brian informed Catherine.

"Child Services?" Ecklie repeated shocked. _I can't believe I'm going to do this._ But he had to, "Why does Child Services need to be involved?"

"I have a warrent signed by a judge that revokes any parental rights Nicholas Stokes has over the child in question, which happens to be his daughter, Kadelin Taylor Stokes," Brain told them.

"Isn't that a little below the belt?" Ecklie asked.

"The judge agrees with my evaluation on the raising of this young lady here. The fact that Mr Stokes is the primary suspect in Miss Hopkins' murder is only a contributing factor. Kadelin was raised more at the Crime Lab than in the comfort and security of her own home. He brings her out into the field, knowingly endangering her life. During certain cases, he neglets her completely," Brian listed.

"Not intentionally!" Catherine butted in.

"The judge agrees with me when I say that Nicholas Stokes is unfit for Kadelin's upbringing. The family members of Mr Stokes and her deceased mother and the people listed as godparents in his will – who are CSIs Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Sara Sidle, Gilbert Grissom, DNA Technician Greg Sanders and Homicide Captain James Brass – will be evaluated and the judge will decide who will be the most fit to take Kadelin under their care. Until that time, Kadelin will be in protective custody with Child Services and placed into a foster home," Brian announced.

"You can't do this, Sheriff. You'll tear Nick apart inside! Kadelin is all he has left! He loved her mother more than anything! And she ended up dying too young! I know! I saw her die in front of my eyes! You take his daughter away; he might as well be a walking zombie! Don't do this, Sheriff! Please!" Catheirne pleaded him with tears streaming from her eyes.

"Sheriff, I agree with a lot of choices you make. But I've seen how Nick is with Kadelin. Taking her away is the most inhumane thing you could ever do in your career," Ecklie took Catherine's side.

"Sheriff Mobley?" a guy from Child Services said as he arrived, "I'm here for Kadelin Stokes."

"She's right here," Brian said as he handed Kadelin over to the man, who was fighting him the entire way.

"I want my daddy! I want my daddy!" Kady screamed hysterically with tears leaking from her eyes as the agent from Child Services took her away.

"Kadelin!" Catherine sobbed hysterically as she ran towards the guy, but the Sheriff held her back.

"I'm sorry, Catherine. But my hands are tied," Brian apologized.

"This is the most inhumane thing you have ever done! You bastard!" Catherine screamed as he punched his chest.

"What can you offer me?" Brian demanded harshly.

"Nothing except my gut and ten years of experience. Nick Stokes did not murder Kristy Hopkins. You know it," Catherine answered.

"Ignoring the evidence against CSI Stokes will look like I was doing special favours for CSI. And I can't have that. Not in the department that I am running," Brian retorted.

"So give me twelve hours, access to the crime scene and evidence without filing papers on Nick and already having Kadelin placed into a foster home," Catherine pleaded him with her voice breaking.

"Twelve hours," Brian sighed, "But then we arrest Mr Stokes with all the attendant documentation."

* * *

><p>"How you doing, Greg?" Catherine asked Greg Sanders as she walked into the DNA lab.<p>

"Same as you. Worried about Nick," Greg sighed sadly before finally taking in Catherine's shocking appearance, "Whoa. What the hell happened to you? Are you alright?"

"I just witnessed something horrible, Greg!" Catherine wailed.

"What happened? What's going on?" Greg immediately demanded worriedly as he pulled her into a hug.

"The Sheriff. He...h-h-he...he had a judge sign a warrent that revokes all parental right Nick has over Kadelin. He handed her over to Child Services," Catherine whimpered into Greg's shoulder.

"He did WHAT?" Greg boomed in anger, causing Catherine and...most of the lab techs to flinch.

"They say that Nick is an unfit parent. He's going to have Kadelin placed into a foster home until he can find someone fit enough for her upbringing," Catherine explained.

"That bastard! And to think he actually has the GUTS to call himself a SHERIFF! When I find him, I swear to God he'll wish he'd never been born!" Greg swore.

"Greg, Greg, Greg! We can't do anything for Kadelin right now. Believe me. Ecklie and I have tried to fight the Sheriff endlessly. But we can do something for Nick. The only way we can get Kadelin back is if we clear him of Kristy's murder," Catherine told him, "I need to see his DNA evidence; the evidence that was found from the crime scene. You have it, right?"

"A sample from the condom, yeah. Popsicled in the freezer. But it's not your case, remember? It's Ecklie's," Greg reminded her as he wiped a few tears from his eyes.

"It's my case for the next twelve hours," Catherine announced.

That was enough for Greg to move over to the freezer and empty the contents from the envelope containing...do I really have to say it? He carefully grabbed the slid and placed it under the scope.

"Nick's little soldiers. The 23 chromosomes that helped Abby's 23 chromosomes to produce Kadelin," Greg introduced as he moved aside so Catherine could see them, "It's all you."

"Thanks, Greg," Catherine thanked as she looked into the scope, "When did you say this sample was frozen?"

"Um...10:15am. Why?" Greg wanted to know.

"These guys are all heads – no tails," Catherine observed.

"That's normal, given the post-ejaculate time frame. How is that going to help Nick and Kadelin?" Greg questioned.

"Just trust me, Greg. This could prove that Nick had no part in Kristy's murder and it'll probably make the judge think that Nick is fit enough to raise Kadelin," Catherine hoped.

"You know, Catherine, I never doubt your word," Greg remarked.

"Smart man," Catherine smirked at Greg before walking away.

"And now, I shall begin to plan the death of a certain Sheriff in perfect detail. hehehe," Greg cackled evilly as he brought out a drawing pad.

* * *

><p>"The sperm found in the condom was frozen at 10:15am. It's all heads. No tails," Catherine told Grissom breathlessly as they hurried down the hallway.<p>

"I'm not quite up to speed on the particulars of...," Grissom trailed off.

"It takes about seven hours for bacteria to eat away at the tails, placing the time of ejaculation at around 2:00am. But Kristy's time of death was at 6:00am," Catherine explained.

"Well, it suggests a lag between ejaculation and Kristy's murder. But it doesn't disprove Nick's presence at the time of the homicide," Grissom reminded Catherine.

"You could be a little more supportive. Especially since-," Catherine was cut off by Sara.

"I have a new favourite colour," Sara proclaimed.

"Orange?" Grissom guessed.

"The orange polyester from the bomb is a match to the Thrift-Right jacket. Guess where their regional headquarters is located," Sara challenged.

"The Hansen Building," Grissom guessed.

"You bet," Sara agreed, "I ran a Lexis search looking for disgruntled employees, irate customers; anyone with a grievance against Thrift-Right."

"You get any hits?" Grissom asked.

"Norman Stirling – former manager," Sara answered.

"How disgruntled?" Grissom desperately wanted to know.

"Let go last year. Caused a commotion at HQ. Filed lawsuits against the company. Guy's been out of work ever since," Sara explained.

"Sitting around making bombs," Grissom remarked.

"Kadelin's been taken away by Child Services," Catherine blurted.

"WHAT?" Grissom and Sara boomed just like Greg did all those moments before.

"What do you mean she's been taken away?" Sara demanded.

"Sheriff Mobley got a judge to sign a warrent which effectively strips Nicky of any parental rights over Kadelin as the judge thinks Nick is unfit to oversee the upbringing of his daughter. All of us are gonna be evaluated to see who's fit enough to raise her. However, until the judge decides who she's gonna go with, Kadelin's in the foster system," Catherine explained.

"You're kidding me," Grissom gasped.

"What's this I hear about Kadelin going into foster care?" Warrick asked as he and Brass approached them.

"I just heard everything from the Sheriff. I wonder if Nick knows about this," Brass couldn't help but ponder.

"If I know about what?" Nick demanded as he walked up behind them.

_He doesn't. _"I'm so sorry, Nick," Grissom apologized.

"What happened? Is Kadelin alright?" Nick asked worriedly.

"You didn't get the notice," Catherine sighed, "I'm sorry. Ecklie and I tried to stop the Sheriff from doing this. To stop this from happening, but..."

"But what?" Nick asked nervously.

"The Sheriff convinced a judge that you are unfit to oversee Kadelin's upbringing. The judge signed a warrent which effectively strips you of your parental rights over Kadelin. Child Services came by earlier and took her away. All of us are going to be evaluated to see who is actually fit enough to raise Kadelin. Until then...they're placing her in foster care," Greg announced apologetically.

"No. No. You're lying! Kady's here! She's with Warrick having a nap in his workspace! Please! Please tell me you're lying!" Nick pleaded hysterically as sobs choked him.

"I'm sorry, man," Warrick sighed as he pulled his best friend into a hug.

Everyone held Nick while he broke down and his world came crashing down around him. Almost four years ago, he lost his wife long before they could actually live a life together. Then, he falls in love with another woman...and ends up becoming the primary suspect in her murder. And now, some judge takes his baby away. All because he's seen as an unfit parent.

"We'll make this right, Nicky. We promise. We're going to do whatever it takes to get her back," Grissom swore, "Catherine, you have Nick's case for the next twelve hours. Go over the evidence and scene. See if you can find anything that will clear him. Sara, Brass, head over to Norman Stirling's house. Warrick, keep searching for that tool. If we're gonna fight this bomb case, Nick's potential murder charge and get Kadelin back, our evidence has to be solid."

* * *

><p>"Norman Stirling?" Brass asked as he, Sara and a few officers walked in.<p>

"Yes? What's going on?" Norman demanded.

"FP," Sara recited.

"What?" Norman said.

"You don't recognize those initials?" Sara guessed as officers come into the garage from inside the house.

"What's this about?" Norman demanded once again.

"The bombing of the Thrift-Right Car Rental and the bombing of the Hansen Building," Brass answered.

"A-a bomb? Are you kidding? I've never even been near a bomb my entire life!" Norman scoffed.

"Well, those orange jackets over there appear to match the meterials the bombs were wrapped in," Sara retorted.

"I used to wear those to go to work," Norman defended.

"You were let go by Thrift-Right last year and lost a court battle to get your job back. In fact, they filed a TRO against you for throwing furniture around their headquarters," Brass recalled.

"I want to call my lawyer," Norman requested.

"Good. You can call him from the car. He can meet us at the PD. Take him in. Come on. Let's go," Brass requested as he grabbed Norman and the officers hand-cuffed him.

"Call your mum," Norman pleaded Tyler as he was dragged away.

* * *

><p>Catherine never thought she'd be here. She never thought she'd be dealing with this case. Well, she didn't really have a choice. If she didn't have this case for twelve hours and find new evidence that disproves what the Sheriff is thinking about Nick Stokes commiting this murder and convince them to revoke the decision of taking Kadelin away from him. So she had to do it. She had to make this right. If not...they could possibly never see Nick or Kadelin ever again.<p>

She had checked everywhere. The bed where Kadelin slept that night, the bed where Nick and Kristy made love, the sofa where it all began for them; only to find nothing. But when she checked the curtains, she found something interesting. She looked at the cords that tie the curtains back. Then she realized something. She took out the autopsy photos. Specifically, the autopsy photos of Kristy's neck. She compared the markings around her neck to the cord. Perfect match. She has just found three things. She just found the murder weapon. She found a way to get Kadelin out of the custody of Child Services. And a way to clear Nick of a murder rap.

* * *

><p><em>THUD!<em>

"Kristy Hopkins was strangled with this sash. It's fingerprint-free. But the force of the pull would have scratched off epithelials from the killer's hands, right?" Catherine asked.

"Abraded, yeah," Greg nodded.

"And you can extract DNA from epithelials?" Catherine went on.

"If they're fresh enough," Greg replied as he swabbed the cord and placed it under the scope, "OK. Epithelials are an affermative. And they're good to go for DNA profiling. I'm just going to need something to compare it to."

"Jack Willman has a prior for a sexual assault so his DNA is on file," Catherine told him.

* * *

><p>When Catherine walked in, she saw Nick sitting on the couch trying his best to hold back tears. But some managed to break free of their restriants. He never thought this would be happening. He tried his best to balance his career and be the best father he can be for Kadelin. Other parents have it easy. There's two of them. Sometimes, there's one who works and the other who's a stay-at-home mum or dad in some cases. Kady didn't have that. Her mother's dead. It's always been her and Nick. And honestly, he wouldn't have it any other way sometimes. Because they probably wouldn't have been able to do the things they have done so far. Or the bond they share might be non-existant.<p>

And now she was gone. Taken from him. All because he was viewed as an unfit parent. So what if they don't like the way he brings her up? He still clothes her, feeds her and most importantly, he loves her more than anything in the entire world, he fights for her and he is more than willing to protect her from even a million bullets. But the court thinks he's not the right person for that. And if he's not...well, who else would be? Nick and Kady compliment each other. There's no other father-daughter duo like them.

"Well?" Nick asked nervously as Catherine sat next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"I think that you and I should head over to the police station," Catherine told him.

"DNA didn't pan out, huh?" Nick guessed.

"Never have I seen such a clean match. Jack Willman killed her," Catherine announced with a sad smile.

Nick could suddenly see it in his mind. He could see Jack walk up behind Kristy and tie the cord tight around her neck. He saw how she struggled against him. Then he saw how he left Kristy on the floor in her own living room dead. Her life: gone. He saw how Jack returned the cord to where it was before and ran for his own ass, leaving Nick to take the blame and to be torn apart from his daughter.

"Thank you!" Nick sobbed as he hugged Catherine tight.

"Hey...hey, I'm just doing my job. Besides, if they'd sent you to jail, I'd get stuck with all your cases," Catherine remarked, causing Nick to laugh, despite the situation that still looms over them.

* * *

><p>"Dispatch said you were looking for me?" Grissom asked Warrick as he walked into the audiovisual lab.

"Yeah. I finally matched this FP to this electric etcher. Now, I made an exemplar. Boom! Identical type of striations. The manufacturer says that this etcher is only used for training purposes. And it's only sold in bulk. It was not sold to Norman Stirling," Warrick explained.

"So who bought it?" Grissom questioned.

"Las Vegas School District. I called the district. And we traced it down to one high school – Summit High. Stirling's son goes there," Warrick announced, "Hey. How's the thing with Nick going?"

"We cleared him. Jack Willman killed Kristy Hopkins," Grissom answered proudly.

"But what about Kady? Are they gonna give her back or place her into foster care?" Warrick asked worriedly.

"I don't know yet. We'll know soon," Grissom sighed sadly.

* * *

><p>"Tyler, were you aware of your father's lawsuits against Thrift-Right Car Rental?" Brass asked.<p>

"It was kind of hard not to be. I mean, it's all him and my mum talked about for a year. Until she left," Tyler answered.

"Do you miss your mother?" Grissom questioned.

"I miss our old life," Tyler retorted bitterly.

"Is there something that we should be talking about? You know, in private?" Norman requested quietly.

"You said that's how corporations do it – in private. See, they treated him great at work, in front of everyone. And then they let him go at the end of the day when no one's around. 30 years of service and then...you know, they realized they could hire two young guys at half the price," Tyler explained.

"What does FP stand for?" Brass wanted to know, "It was etched into both bombs."

"We think you engraved it with an implement from your high school shop class," Grissom added, causing Norman to stare at Tyler in shock.

"Fair play," Tyler answered.

"I used to yell that round the house – that I was owed fair play," Norman recalled as he realized what was going on.

"I mean, they threw him out like trash," Tyler went on.

"And you sent them bombs?" Norman exclaimed in disbelief.

"You said you wanted to kill them!" Tyler defended.

"How did you even know how to do this?" Norman demanded.

"Off the internet," Tyler confessed, "Dad, are you mad at me? I did it for you."

"Tyler, did you make anymore bombs? Where are they? Where are you keeping them?" Grissom asked.

"Tyler...if you did this for me...pease tell them where they are," Norman pleaded Tyler.

* * *

><p>"<em>Victor 9, victor 9, report to Summit High School, Praire Road. Repeat – Praire Road. Reported bomb outside classroom 22B in locker 897.<em>"

Dominic just happened to be listening to the police scanner when this announcement was made. This was his chance to do something. To prove himself. To be the hero he desired to be. So he slid his jacket on and walked out of the house.

Sadly, he didn't hear the rest of the announcement:

"_Bomb is trigger-activated and motion-delayed. Do not handle._"

* * *

><p>"<em>All students and faculty and all school personnel please exit the building. Security detail! Let's go!<em>"

"I need classroom 22B," Dominic requeted.

"Second floor!" a student answered back.

"Where's 22B?" Dominic repeated before running up the stairs towards the second floor, "Come on, people! Don't stop!"

"Come on! Outside!"

"_All students and all faculty..._"

"Come on, people. Don't run," Dominic pleaded.

"_All personnel are to exit the building immediately._"

"Let's go! Everybody outside!"

"_All students and faculty please exit the facilty immediately and regroup in your designated areas._"

Dominic reached the locker that contained the bomb and jimmied it open with his pocket knife. As soon as he opened the locker, his sight was met with the bomb secured in a brown-paper package. But when he picked it up, he unknowingly set off the timer inside. And it only got worse as he cautiously headed towards the front door of the school.

"Get out of my way, people. Come around me," Dominc requested.

Outside, sirens were wailing. Grissom pulled up along with numerous officers who followed him. They saw the students run out of the school and went to guide them to safety. Along with the final handful of students was Dominic carrying the bomb looking proud.

"Dominic! Stop! Stop right there! Put it down!" Grissom yelled.

"No. It's alright. Everyone's safe," Dominic reassured him.

"No! No! No! Drop it! IT'S ACTIVE!" Grissom announced.

Well there goes Dominic's smile. Suddenly, he could hear the timer inside ticking away. Counting down the seconds he had left to live. But he just stood there. Unable to move. Then, finally...

_BOOM!_

The force of the bomb was strong enough to knock everyone back. As Grissom watched the noble security guard go up in flames, he removed his glasses.

* * *

><p>"Hi. Just the guy I wanted to see," Nick remarked as he saw Jack Willman being escorted by O'Riley in the hallway.<p>

"O'Riley," Catherine said before they were left alone.

"Tell me why you did it," Nick pleaded him.

"I got nothing to say to you, cowboy," Jack sneered...causing Nick to shove him into the wall.

"She was going back to college. Turning her life around. Getting out of the business. And you killed her for it! Why?" Nick pleaded once again.

"Is that what she told you? She was getting out of the business? She was going to college to recruit more girls," Jack scoffed.

"Do you think I'm going to believe the John that killed her?" Nick asked.

"Oh, you think I was her client? I was her pimp. She was leaving me to start her own racket. So wake up. This isn't Pretty Woman. She's not Julia Roberts. You're not Richard Gere," Jack reminded him harshly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess you're right. Because there's no happy ending for you. 25 to life," Nick retorted.

"Get him out of here," Catherine requested.

"Kadelin Taylor Stokes!" Jack called out, causing Nick and Catherine to stop in their tracks, "Yeah. That's right. I know her full name. You know, she's a pretty sweet thang. I bet you that whoever takes over my business is going to want to recruit her when she's older. Most likely when she's a teenager. And he's also gonna leave her with no choice."

That caused Nick to snap. He ran towards him and pinned him against the wall. O'Riley and Catherine made no effort to hold Nick back in his actions. After all, they want nothing more but to be able to do the exact same thing to that bastard.

"Listen here, you punk. And you better listen good. If you or any of your little friends go anywhere near my daughter, I will find you and end you without a moment's hesitation," Nick swore.

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Dominic Kretzer sacrificed his life today for the students of Summit High School when the bomb he was removing exploded in his hands. Mr Kretzker, a security guard at the Hansen Building, which was bombed just days ago, learned of the bomb threat at the High School and raced tehre to lend a hand. As a bomb enthusiast, Mr Kretzker had extensive knowledge of how bombs worked. He'd located the bomb in a student's locker and was carrying it away from the student population to a container. But despite his expertise, he was unable to reach safety in time.<strong>_"

That article was something Grissom pinned up onto the pinboard 'One of Our Own'. He felt that Dominic should be up there. The actions that cost him his life was heroic. It was because of him those students and staffmembers at the high school survived.

Now, they've successfully completed two out of their three missions for the day.

First, they figured out who bombed the Hansen Building and the Car Rental shop and why he did it: fair play.

Second, they managed to help Nick clear his name in the murder of Kristy Hopkins and find her real murder: Jack Willman.

Now they only have one mission left. Whether or not they will be successful, well, that's for people of higher power to decide.

All they have to do is get Kadelin back.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Nicky. What you got there?" Catherine asked as she sat in the break room next to them.<p>

"The letter from Child Services I was supposed to get to warn me of Kadelin's removal," Nick answered sadly.

"You just got it? The Sheriff told me they sent it to you an hour before they took her," Catherine stated.

"Mail's had a slow day," Nick reminded her.

"Hey, guys. You wanna come into my office? I have something for you," Ecklie announced as he walked in.

"If you're trying to prank us after that whoopie cushion me and Kady planted in your office chair," Greg warned.

"That was you two?" Warrick laughed in complete histerics.

"Payback will come later. Now trust me. I know you'll like this. Especially you, Nick," Ecklie promised as he guided them towards his office.

"Daddy!" Kady squealed in delight.

"Kadelin!" Nick sighed in relief as he fell to his knees and crushed his daughter against his chest whilst showering her with multiple fatherly kisses.

"How did you?" Catherine started.

"What the Sheriff did was inhumane. After seeing how histerical you both got and how much you care for your daughter, I called the judge, provided him with what I saw and how I knew all of you guys care about her. Immediately, the judge revoked the request," Ecklie explained.

"Thank you so much," Nick thanked as his eyes watered in joy and he scooped Kady into his arms.

"Just don't tell anyone about this. After all, I do have my reputation as the Day Shift bastard to upkeep," Ecklie remarked.

"Hey! Three-year-old daughter! Right here!" Nick reminded them.

"Well, first order of business for you, Nick, is to take your daughter home and spend some quality time with her," Grissom advised.

"First thing on my agenda," Nick swore as he hugged his daughter even tighter when she hugged him, "I believe a Stokes Family Sundae is in order."

"Screw paperwork. I'm coming over," Catherine decided.

"Yeah. Me too. I love your sundaes," Warrick added.

"Count me in," Greg piped in.

"Ice cream is my guilty pleasure," Sara sighed dreamily, causing everyone to look at her very weirdly, "What?"

"Meh. I haven't had ice cream for a while," Brass shrugged.

"What about you, Uncle Gil?" Kady asked him whilst wearing the puppy-dog put.

"Oh! Oh! Ohhhhh! Man! She's giving you the puppy-dog pout! You KNOW you can't resist that!" Greg crowed as everyone laughed.

"He's right. I can't. I'm in," Grissom sighed, causing everyone to cheer.

"Can't. The Sheriff'll come after me," Ecklie sighed, "And I have to fend him of Kadelin for tonight."

"Fine by me," Nick beamed proudly as he nuzzled noses with his giggling daughter affectionately.

* * *

><p>Everyone had fun at Nick's house having his famous sundae. They joked, laughed, shared memories, talked about family; everything a family does at family reunions. But that's what these guys are. They're a family. Sure. They're dysfunctional. But that doesn't matter. All that matters is that they're a family. And nothing can stop that. Nothing.<p>

Eventually, everyone had to go home and Nick had to calm Kady of her sugar rush. Eventually, everyone was in bed asleep. But Kady had trouble sleeping. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see Kristy and what could've been if she had lived. She'd get her degree in communications. Nick and Kristy would be married. Kady would have a mother she loved and one who loved her back. She would have brothers and sisters. But she was murdered. And no matter how badly she wished to go back in time and stop that from happening, she couldn't.

Suddenly, she heard something. She heard sobs. And they sounded like her daddy's sobs. Immediately, she bolted upright. She was worried. That's for sure. She knew that something was wrong. That's how close they are. They always knew how the other person was feeling. It's part of the bond that's always been there. Ever since the night she was created. **(Jason: God! *grossed out* You did NOT just say that. Me: Why, yes. Yes I did.)**

So she got up and walked to her dad's room. Nick always left the door open so she could come to him. Even placed the footlockers and stuff at the end of the bed so she can climb up. When she stood at the doorway, she was greeted by the site of her dad rolled on his side crying. This rarely happens. She's known her dad as someone who's strong, tough; made of steal, even. She rarely sees him cry. Well, this is one of those rare times.

Immediately, she quietly walked up to his bed and climbed up onto the footlocker and then onto the bed and gently crawled up to him. She was so gentle that Nick didn't even know that she was there until he felt more weight next to him and her small arms tried to hug him.

"It's OK, daddy. It's OK," Kady whispered to him as she hugged him.

Immediately, Nick rolled onto his back and held Kady onto his chest, hugging her as tight as he could without hurting his delicate miracle. Occasionally, he planted kisses on top of her head. He felt happier having Kady there. Because it reminded him that she was here. She was safe.

And always will be.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Just a little something that will happen later on. Look up Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise on YouTube to see what we've done. It is AWESOME! Hey! Next chapter, they should act out Wizard Swears. Hmm...I own nothing.<strong>

***intro music***

**Hodges: Hmmm...what is that mysterious ticking noise? *mumbling* Not over here. Not other there. Hmmm... *looks around* Kind of catchy... *begins bopping to beat* Snape. Snape. Severus Snape. Snape. Snape. Severus Snape.**

**Kady: *pops up* DUMBLEDORE!**

**Hodges: Snape. Snape. Severus Snape.**

**Kady: DUMBLEDORE!**

**Hodges: Snape. Snape. Severus Snape.**

**Kady: DUMBLEDORE!**

**Hodges: Snape.**

**Mandy: Ron!**

**Hodges: Snape.**

**Mandy: Ron!**

**Hodges: Severus Snape.**

**Mandy: Ron Weasley!**

**Kady: DUMBLEDORE!**

**Hodges: Snape.**

**Mandy: Ron!**

**Hodges: Snape.**

**Mandy: Ron!**

**Hodges: Severus Snape.**

**Mandy: Ron Weasley!**

**Kady: DUMBLEDORE!**

***loop repeats...well, it's a cannon! What did you expect?**

**Wendy: Hermione...Hermione...Hermione...Hermione...Hermione... *joins loop***

**Greg: Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Ooh! Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Yeah! Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Ooh! Harry Potter! Harry Potter! That's me!**

**Hodges: Snape!**

**Greg: Harry!**

**Hodges: Snape!**

**Greg: Harry!**

**Hodges: Snape!**

**Greg: Harry!**

**Hodges: Snape!**

**Greg: Harry!  
><strong>

**Hodges: Snape!**

**Greg: Harry!  
><strong>

**Hodges: Snape!  
><strong>

**Greg: Harry!**

**Hodges: SNAPE!**

**Greg: HARRY!**

**Hodges: SNAPE!**

**Kady: *pops up* DUMBLEDORE!**

**Wendy: *falls over* ...Hermione!**

**Kady: DUMBLEDORE!**

***at the same time***

**Hodges: Snape. Snape. Severus Snape. Snape. Snape. Severus Snape.**

**Mandy: Ron! Ron! Ron Weasley! Ron! Ron! Ron Weasley.**

**Wendy: Hermione. Hermione. Hermione. Hermione.**

**Kady: DUMBLEDORE!**

**Greg: Harry Potter. I'm Harry Potter. I'm Harry Potter. Harry Harry Potter.**

**All: Singing a song all day long at HOOOOOOOOOOGWARTS!**

**Mandy: I found the source of the ticking! It's a pipe omb!**

**Greg and Wendy: YAY!**

**Hodges and Kady: *look at each other***

_**BOOM!**_

**Archie: Muahahahahahahaha... *taps wand to rhythm* Voldemort. Voldemort. Ooh, Volde. Volde. Volde. Voldemort!**

***outro song***

**Me: That was fun. Read. Review. Fave. Alert. BYE!**


	15. To Halve and To Hold

**To Halve and to Hold: A single bone is discovered in the desert. Grissom, Nick and Catherine are stumped as they try to find all the pieces of the skeleton and put it back together. Despite Grissom's objections and stubborness, Catherine calls in help from forensic anthropologist, Teri Miller. In another case, a male stripper is found dead in a motel room after performing at a bachelorette party, leaving Warrick and Sara to find out who killed him, how he died and what were the circumstances that lead to his death.**

**Next, Table Stakes: The home of the legendary Las Vegas showgirl, Portia Richmond, is the host of a fundraiser event for a charity that works to help burn victims. During the party, an uninvited guest is discovered floating face-down in the pool dead. They later discover that Portia has mysteriously disappeared and the young couple who are currently 'house-sitting' for her are the LVPD's primary suspects in the case of both Portia's disappearance and the murder of the uninvited guest in the pool. The Sheriff gives Grissom nothing but grief due to the fact the case the working is high-profile and affects his campaign run for Mayor. Meanwhile, Warrick works a mob-style hit in a glass elevator.**

**Then, Too Tough to Die: A woman is abducted from a parking garage, raped, fatally shot in the head and left in a vegetative state. Grissom, Sara and Nick are the leads in the case. Sara finds herself getting emotional involved in the case as she becomes obsessed with identifying their latest Jane Doe and catching the person who attacked her and left her for dead on the side of a highway, causing the concern Nick and Grissom have for Sara to grow. Meanwhile, a Day Shift CSI has quit and Catherine and Warrick have to take over one of his cases: a neighbour's disbute over a motorcycle that eventually lead to an incident where one neighbour shot the other in the torso, thus killing him. However, one important piece of evidence has mysteriously disappeared and the case is due to go to court in just four days.**

**Later, Face Lift: A robber trying to break into the safe at a pottery shop in the desert is surprised and killed. As Grissom, Catherine and Nick work the leads in the case, they discover a set of fingerprints that belong to a four-year-old girl who was kidnapped 21 years ago. In another case, a woman was incinerated sleeping on her easy chair. And as Warrick and Sara work the case, Sara begins to suspect that the death of their latest victim is due to spontaneous human combustion.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**$35K O.B.O.  
><strong>**Gentle, Gentle  
><strong>**Sounds of Silence  
><strong>**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler**

**REVIEW REPLIES!  
><strong>

**Caitlin: **_**LOVED IT!**_

_**xx**_

_**(you did it justice)**_

**Phew. Glad to know I did. Thanks for the review, Caitlin! If you have any requests for me, don't hesitate to let me know and I'll write them for you.**

**stargirl276: **_**OMG! I loved it I have been waiting for this chapter forever and it's came and I love it! I love Harry potter puppet pals it's so funny :D well done keep up the good work**_

**Glad I could please. Potter Puppet Pals are totally awesome! My top three are Mysterious Ticking Noise, Wizard Swears and School is for Losers. I also like the Mustache Buddies one. Voldemort is so funny...but not as funny as Dumbledore. Thanks for the review!**

**And...this chapter is set four days before Kady's birthday. So...does anyone want me to upload a chapter with Kady's birthday in it or just go on to Table Stakes? OK. So...that's all I wanted to say.**

**Oh wait. No it's not. I can't forget about the disclaimer. Anthony E. Zuiker would kill me. Literally! He would actually have me be a murder victim on the show...maybe not. But who knows? As you already know, in all of this, Kady is all I own. If I did, she'd be in it from the beginning (but as a week-old newborn, but Abby would still be dead and it would be just Nick and Kady).**

**And OMFG! After this episode, we'll have only 9 episodes to go and then it's on to season 2 we go! WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE? Hey! Kady will be starting school soon! I wonder how Nick will be like! Make sure you post what you think Nick should be like for Kady's first day of school in your reviews! Just remember to consider how close they are.**

**Now...ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>Hey! That dog looks similar to my own! Only difference being, this dog is actually smart. Just sayin'. When she catches the stick, she actually returns the stick to her owners for them to throw it again. In other words, this dog can actually play fetch properly. No offence to my dog. Kellie, you know I love you to bits. But...it's kinda true. But you're still beautiful and lovable!<p>

"Come on, Sky! Come on, Sky. Sky, come on," Matthew coaxed his dog gently before taking the stick and throwing it again, "Go get it, girl! Come on, Sky. Come on, girl. Bring it back. Good girl."

But when Matthew got a good look at the object Sky dropped in front of him, he realized something. That's not the stick Matthew threw across the desert for his beloved dog to fetch. It was something entirely different.

"That's not Sky's stick," Matthew proclaimed before handing it to his dad, Robb.

"What do you got there, Sky? Come here, girl. What did you get here?" Robb asked as he took a closer look.

"Dad, what is it?" Matthew questioned nervously.

"Nothing. It's just...uh, just an old bone probably from a dead animal or something," Robb shrugged as he looked around while Sky barked at his feet.

* * *

><p>Nighttime has now rolled over the city of Las Vegas, Nevada as the sun took away its blistering heat to give the other side of the world a torturous summer. Grissom and Catherine are at Mount Charleston with the bone Matthew, Robb and Sky found earlier that day. Grissom looked at the bone before him.<p>

"It's a tibia...or most of a tibia," Grissom observed.

"How long do you think it's been out here?" Catherine asked.

"Well, long enough for the animals to pick it clean," Grissom answered.

"And long enough for the elements to have washed away any evidence," Catherine added.

"Evidence of what?" Grissom demanded curiously.

"Well, it is a leg bone. And my guess is that it didn't walk out here by itself," Catheirne remarked.

"It could have been a hiker who got lost. It's interesting to me how you always expect the worst," Grissom commented.

"You see, that way, I'm never disappointed. You know, sometimes I'm nicely surprised. So, can we call it a crime scene?" Catherine begged.

"Potential crime scene," Grissom corrected, "Did you know that there's 206 bones in the human body?"

"Yes, professor. I, too, took Osteology," Catherine nodded.

"Well, 205 more bones and we have a complete skeleton. If we find the rest, then we can determine whether or not it's murder," Grissom explained.

"Well, I feel it in every one of my 206 bones that this was a murder," Catherine remarked.

*music begins*

Crime  
>Scene<br>Investigation

Starring William Peterson  
>Marg Helgenberger<br>Gary Dourdan  
>George Eads<br>Jorja Fox  
><span>And Paul Guilfoyle<span>

Created by Anthony E. Zuiker

"OK. Catherine and I are on the case at Mount Charleston. Nick, we could use your help on that," Grissom announced as he handed Nick the assignment sheet.

"Outstanding," Nick remarked, "And while we're out in the field, Kady is staying with Greg. I don't think Mount Charleston is an appropiate place for a three-year-old who likes to run off."

"Fine with me," Grissom shrugged.

"Cool. I love Uncle Greggy!" Kady squealed excitedly.

"Count your lucky stars you're hanging out with him, mariposa. Because with those words he's been teaching you...," Nick trailed off at the look Kady was giving him.

"Mariposa?" Sara repeated in confusion.

"Butterfly in Spanish," Nick clarified.

"Ahhhh…," Sara hummed, "I still don't get why you call her butterfly."

"Long story," Nick and Kady said at the same time.

"So we just talked with the academy. We're getting an entire class of cadets meeting us there," Catherine piped in.

"All you guys got to go on is a bone?" Warrick asked, earning a hum in agreement from Catherine.

"The tibia. Where there's one, there's usually the other," Grissom remarked.

"What about Teri Miller? Can she help us?" Kady asked Grissom as she ran to catch up with him.

"I don't think she's necessary," Grissom declined sadly as he scooped his nearly four-year-old goddaughter into his arms.

"Well, why not? She's a forensic anthropologist – specializes in bones – and hello...all we've got is a bone," Catherine pointed out.

"I know what she specializes in!" Grissom defended, "If we hit a wall, I'll call her."

"OK," Catherine and Kady nodded.

"Sara, Warrick – dead body in the Lucky Seven Motel," Grissom went on as he handed the assignment sheet to Nick who handed it to Warrick.

"Is that the place with that weird pool?" Sara asked.

"Oh yeah," Catherine whistled.

"Maid found dead male body in a hotel room," Warrick read as everyone else except Sara left.

"Any chance its old age?" Sara asked hopefully.

"Guy's 23. No. Sounds like a live one," Warrick remarked as he handed the sheet to Sara, "Let's go."

"Hey. Kady's birthday is in four days. What did you get her?" Sara questioned out of curiosity.

"I got her a little colouring book and some crayons. Nick told me she's been into drawing lately. So I got her something artsy. I checked with the others so we didn't have a repeat of Lindsey's birthday last year. Remember when Grissom and Nick got Lindsey the same chem lab?" Warrick laughed.

"Well, I got her some stickers, a brand new packet of some super awesome colouring pencils, some glitter and some coloured paper so she could draw some more pretty pictures for her daddy," Sara recited.

"Nice. Nick needs new pictures in his office. Although, one photo I will NOT let him get rid of is that one of him and Kady Grissom took when she was a week old. That one is just adorable!" Warrick proclaimed.

"I wonder what Nick's gotten her," Sara pondered.

"He ain't telling nobody. He wants it to be a surprise," Warrick remarked.

"I'll get it out of him," Sara vowed.

"Greg and I are his best friends and he won't tell us. So what makes you think that he'll tell you?" Warrick retorted.

"Good point," Sara nodded.

* * *

><p>The following day, Catherine and Grissom were back at the crime scene with their class of cadets looking for the remainder of the bones that would make the complete skeleton of their latest victim. With hawk-like eyes, they all check the ground for anything that may look like a bone fragment. But so far, they have no luck...until a cadet thinks he's found something that's bone-like. At Catherine's request, everyone stops and she and Grissom come over to take a look.<p>

"Looks like a piece of skull bone," the cadet observed.

What Grissom did next was something no one would be able to predict. Well...it's GRISSOM! Sure. There are times where he's practically an open book! But other times...he's a book that's shut tighter than the security at Fort Knox! He picked up the object, glanced at it...then TASTED IT!

"What are you doing?" Catherine asked in alarm.

"Bones are porous. They stick to the tongue. This doesn't stick. It's a piece of rock," Grissom proclaimed.

"I hope you had your Hepatitis B shot," Catherine remarked as she followed Grissom, "Did you? I mean, if you haven't, you're not going anywhere near Lindsey and Kadelin."

"Like you could keep me from my goddaughter and her best friend," Grissom scoffed.

"Nick can," Catherine retorted before they continued their search.

It took the majority of the day. But they found approximately 100 bone fragments. That may not seem much to anyone. But when a bone has 206 bones, it's a start. I mean, it's been dismembered. Who knows how many pieces of bone they would find out here? And where those bones were found were white flags. Kinda like X marks the spot. In this case, they're marking where they found the bones.

Later that night, Grissom and Catherine were still at Mount Charleston. They were overlooking their search site...well, Catherine was. Grissom was just looking up at the sky above them. The stars littering the clear night sky. They say that the sky is beautiful in the desert at night. And it looks like they weren't kidding.

"So...you thinking what I'm thinking?" Catherine asked casually.

"How amazing the universe is. Everything made from the same carbon – stars to trees, trucks to human bones," Grissom remarked.

"Mmm...no. I was thinking that we have about 100 bone fragments. We could ID this body before the end of shift," Catherine disagreed...before turning to face Grissom, "Stars and trucks?"

* * *

><p>Inside the motel room, they immediately noticed that the room was littered in party decorations. Balloons, streamers; any other decoration that comes to your mind. However, there is something that shouldn't be there: a dead body lying face-down on the bed.<p>

"Looks like somebody had a par-tay," Warrick remarked.

"Here's a wallet," O'Riley said as he handed the wallet to him, "Couple 20s inside."

"Darren Pyne," Warrick read the identification, "Dead at 23."

"Signs of struggle. I'll dust for prints," Sara decided.

"Looks like he was whacked over the head with his lamp," Warrick observed.

"Yeah. One hit or there would be blood," Sara piped in.

"Unless each hit was to a different part of his dome," Warrick retorted, "Who's the room registered to?"

"Well, you know, that would be Celine Dion," Sara remarked sarcastically before reading the registration slip, "But the bill was charged to the credit card of a Lynn Henry, Eau Claire, Wisconsin."

"Hey, O'Riley, you think...," Warrick started.

"Find out the last place she used her credit card," O'Riley cut him short.

* * *

><p>"I love those shoes."<p>

"You can wear them again."

"What about the veil?"

"You've got to remember the veil."

Yep. That's basic talk about a wedding: the attire. Obviously, someone's getting married soon. But Sara and Warrick didn't care about that at all. They cared about one person in particular.

"Lynn Henry?" Warrick asked.

"You know my name. What's yours?" Lynn replied.

"I'm Warrick Brown. And this is Sara Sidle," Warrick introduced.

"Hi," Sara greeted.

"We're with the Las Vegas Crime Lab," Warrick announced.

"Crime Lab? About what?" Lynn demanded.

Warrick showed Lynn and her girlfriends the Polaroid of the body they found in the room.

"Darren Pyne was found dead in your motel room at the Lucky Seven. Did you know him?" Warrick questioned.

"Oh my God. Yes. I-I do know him. Sort of," Lynn answered as she gave the Polaroid back.

"Sort of?" Sara repeated.

"Uh, we, we gave Meg a bachelorette party last night," Lynn informed them.

"We hired a male dancer," Joyce Lanier added.

"I didn't want my fiance to know. Because he's staying at this hotel," Meg Wheeler explained.

"So we rented a room in a sort of out-of-the-way place," Lynn summised.

"So Darren was the dancer?" Sara guessed.

"Yeah. Uh...he arrived around...10? We left at 3. He was totally fine," Lynn recalled.

"He was danced-out. But definitely alive," Meg added.

"He didn't leave when you did?" Warrick repeated.

"No. He asked if he could stay and the room was already paid for. So I didn't see a problem," Lynn shrugged.

"Lynn, how did you get those bruises on your wrists?" Sara suddenly asked.

"Oh my God!" Lynn gasped as she noticed the bruises that stained the creamy skin on her wrist for the first time, "I-I don't know. I-I was totally tipsy last night. I mean, falling all over everything."

"Alright. We'll probably have more questions after the coroner completes his autopsy. If we need to talk to you, can we reach you here?" Warrick asked.

"Yes. My wedding is tomorrow. Whatever we can do to help," Meg nodded.

"Thanks. Our card," Sara said as she handed the card to Meg before she and Warrick left.

* * *

><p>Back in the morgue, Grissom, Nick and Catherine were busy trying to reconstruct their skeleton. The only help they have is the book titled <em>Atlas of Human Anatomy<em>. They had this system going. Grissom and Nick would pick up a bone and identify the name of the bone and where it goes and Catherine would use the book to tell him whether or not he is correct. So far, everything was going well...when Nick's not feeling the urge to leave and check on his nearly four-year-old daughter. But Catherine and Grissom understood. Catherine because she's a single parent herself. Grissom because he understands the father-daughter relationship Nick and Kady share.

"That's the femur," Catherine observed as Grissom picked up another piece of bone.

"Ankle bone? Medial malleolous? Goes on the bottom of the tibia?" Grissom guessed.

"That is correct...according to the book," Catherine agreed after reading the book.

"I'll take toe bones for $200, Alex," Grissom joked as he picked up more bones and placed them where he thought he should be, "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again."

"Kady and Lindsey love that nursery rhyme," Catherine giggled before asking her boss, "Have we hit a wall yet?"

"No. This was a man, judging by the pelvic bone," Grissom answered before looking at half of the jaw enhanced on the monitor, "Hey, Nicky?"

"Yeah?" Nick responded.

"Let's post this on the Dental Society Database. See if anyone responds," Grissom suggested.

"You got it," Nick nodded as he left.

"He's gonna take a while to come back. We all know how much he loves his daughter," Catherine remarked.

"Five times the length of the humerus means this guy was...six feet tall. But we don't know his race and we don't know whether he was right-or-left-handed yet," Grissom sighed.

"Well, he was old. There's some calcification on the rib cartilage. 60, 70 years old, maybe?" Catherine estimated earning a hum from Grissom, "Are the bones whispering to you?"

"Look at the jagged marks on the bone," Grissom told Catherine before she did just that.

"Wait a minute. This guy was chopped up. That's murder," Catherine gasped.

"Well, not necessarily. Could have happened postmortem. You know, one of those tractors up in the hills. Or a mulching machine maybe," Grissom shrugged.

"A much machine? How long do you plan on ignoring the obvious?" Catherine demanded in disbelief as two familiar faces entered the autopsy room unnoticed by Grissom and Catherine, "A 70-year-old man found in the mountains with clear evidence he was chopped to pieces. That's a...homicide."

"Well, you should check for hemorrhagic tissue at the bone's tool marks...to be certain."

At the sound of the voice, Grissom turned around. Standing at the entrance was Teri Miller. In her arms was sweet little Kadelin fiddling with Teri's necklace (not that Teri minded any bit at all).

"Teri!" Grissom exclaimed in surprise.

"Hi," Teri greeted.

"Thanks for coming, Teri," Catherine thanked before turning to Grissom who was staring at her, "I told you I was calling Teri, didn't I? Anyway, what were you saying about hemorrhagic tissue?"

"It's blood in the soft tissue. If you find it, it means the guy was alive when he was cut up," Grissom summised.

"Hmm. Well, maybe you two don't need me after all," Teri smirked.

"I would never turn away a scientist of your talent," Grissom retorted before turning to Catherine, "Uh, could I have a word with you outside please?"

"Sure," Catherine noded before they left...not without kissing their goddaughter on the cheek.

"Hey. Let's take a look at the bones," Teri suggested as she brought Kady closer to the metal table, "You wanna learn what they are?"

"Yeah," Kady nodded eagerly.

* * *

><p>"You bring in a specialist without my approval?" Grissom practically boomed in disbelief.<p>

"And you don't bring in one, possibly compromise the case, because you two had a relationship?" Catherine scoffed.

"Relationship? I hardly know that woman!" Grissom retorted.

"Oh...so I guess that dopey look in your eye when she's around and the fact that you don't protest to her having Kadelin – our nearly four-year-old goddaughter, mind you – is just that. Here's the deal – we're using cliff notes to put that skeleton back together in there. Teri is availing her services. You said she's the best. But, hey. If you want me to send her away," Catherine trailed off.

"Just...check with me about stuff like this, will you?" Grissom sighed.

"Right," Catherine agreed before they walked back in.

"Sorry. So, how did we do?" Grissom asked as he took Kady from Teri's arms into his own.

"Not bad," Kady complimented as Teri picked up two bones.

"Scaphoid...cuneiform. However, this is a wrist bone and this...is a foot bone," Teri announced as she switched the bones around.

"I'm glad you here," Grissom confessed, causing the forensic anthropologist to smile at him.

* * *

><p>"It looks like somebody in the Dental Society Database saw our posting," Nick remarked as he saw Kady approach him, "Hey, honey."<p>

"Really?" Catherine asked in curiousity as Nick kissed his daughter's temple in an affectionate mannor.

"Sid Tucker," Nick read.

"No way. A local dentist," Catherine gaped.

"He has records that go back thirty years," Nick went on.

"Move over," Catherine requested kindly before reading, "'Hairline fissure of the mandibular canine.' Oh God. Why didn't I learn latin?"

"It's lower level third from the middle," Nick indicated, causing Catherine to stare at him, "Better memory than you. And...our first character match."

"'Overlapping left incisors.' That's the front teeth, right?" Catherine guessed.

"Two for two," Nick agreed as they looked at the next x-ray.

"Gold fillings. Well, I know that. He's got gold fillings in 'adjoining right molars and interspersed left molars.' Tell me this is all we need," Catherine pleaded.

"Nolan Ryan pitches another perfect game," Nick remarked.

"Who's Nolan Ryan?" Kady asked.

"You did not just ask that," Nick looked at his daughter in mock disappointment. **(Jason: Who's Nolan Ryan? Me: Searching. Ah! Nolan Ryan is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. To this day, he is the President and CEO of the Texas Rangers.)**

"And the winner is...," Catherine trailed off as Nick and Kady did a drum roll together and the DENTAL RECORD IDENTIFICATION box came up.

"Mel Bennett. 326 Franklin Street. Date of birth: September 6, 1931. He was 70," Nick read out.

"Seriously, you two? Drum roll?" Catherine looked at them.

Her response? Cheeky grins from the father-daughter duo sitting before her.

"Now, I have to educate you about Nolan Ryan," Nick proclaimed as he scooped his daughter into his arms and left.

* * *

><p>"An electric saw? You sure?" Grissom asked.<p>

"Grooves from a handsaw would be straight, parallel. Now look at the grooves along the medial condyle of the femur. They're coarse. See? A reciprocating electric saw was used on this person," Ter proclaimed as Nick and Catherine walked into the room.

"Excuse me. Um...the person's name is Mel Bennett. We just confirmed it. We're going to meet Brass at the widow's house," Catherine announced.

"I gotta go. Thank you," Grissom thanked Teri.

"You're welcome," Teri nodded.

"Nick, would you stay here and work with Teri on this soft tissue stuff. She'll explain it to you," Grissom reassured him.

"Sure," Nick nodded.

"Where's Kadelin?" Grissom suddenly asked.

"With Greg," Nick reassured him, "I may be a little more relaxed about my feelings of having her down here. But it doesn't mean I'm gonna bring her down here every time I come down."

* * *

><p>"Our male dancer," Doc Robbins sighed as he began going over the body with Warrick.<p>

"Multiple blows to the head?" Warrick asked.

"That's right. And one of those blows did enough damage to cause cranial bleeding. Any of your ladies mention having sex with this victim?" Doc Robbins questioned.

"No. Just lap dances. Nothing more," Warrick shook his head.

"I think the dance might have been a bit more intomate. Penile swab's back from the lab," Doc Robbins gestured to Warrick, "Vaginal cells."

"Looks like fried eggs," Warrick remarked.

"That's because the cells are fresh. Darren had sex just before he died," Doc Robbins announced.

"What's the estimated time of death?" Warrick wanted to know.

"Midnight," Doc Robbins answered.

"WHAT?" Warrick exclaimed in disbelief, "These ladies said he was alive when they left him at 3:00AM!"

"Someone's lying," Doc Robbins remarked.

* * *

><p>"I don't mean to be snippy. But we're already late for my rehearsal dinner," Meg told Sara and Warrick in the interrogation room.<p>

"Dinner's gonna have to wait," Sara sighed apologetically.

"We have forensic proof that Darren Pyne had sex with a woman just before he died," Warrick announced.

"And, as far as we can tell, you were the last three women with him. So, who's lying?" Sara asked.

"I have two small children and a husband. I can't be involved in this," Joyce said.

"Joyce, shut up," Lynn whispered.

"About what? Lynn, does this have anything to do with the bruises on your wrists?" Sara questioned.

"OK. After the bachelorette party, we left. I forgot my purse. So I went back in to get it. I told him no. But he just won't take no for an answer," Lynn recalled.

"So he raped you," Warrick summised.

"That's how I got the bruises on my wrist. I didn't even tell them until we got back to the hotel," Lynn confessed.

"Was Darren alive when you left?" Warrick asked.

"Very...unfortunately," Lynn mumbled.

"So...can we go now? My fiance is already asking questions," Meg said.

"Yeah, you can go," Sara nodded, "But, Lynn, uh...a car's going to take you to the hospital for an exam."

"An exam for what?" Lynn demanded.

"It's just standard procedure for sexual assault," Warrick reassured her.

* * *

><p><em>DING DONG!<em>

"Yes?" Rose Bennet said as she answered the door.

"I'm Detective Jim Brass – Las Vegas Police Department. Are you Mrs Bennett?" Brass asked the same questions he's been asking for years.

"Oh yes. Is this about my car plates? I have them. I just haven't had time to put them on the car," Rose explained apologetically.

"Actually, Mrs Bennett, we're here about your husband, Mel," Grissom corrected.

"Oh. Well, Mel isn't here right now," Rose told them.

"Well, do you know where he is?" Catherine asked.

"Yes. He's at the store. Is there a problem?" Rose demanded.

* * *

><p>"Mrs Bennet, everything is alright. We're just going to ask a few questions down at the station," Brass reassured Rose as he and Brass eescorted her to the back of a police car.<p>

"She looks distraught," Grissom remarked.

"Is that because she just found out he's dead or because she got caught?" Catherine asked.

* * *

><p>"Interesting how people catalog their lives. Fifty years of marriage on the wall," Grissom observed.<p>

"Yeah. That's a lot of years. Maybe a few too many for the missus," Brass remarked.

"Oh, I don't know. These two were good with each other," Catherine complimented with a sigh, "It takes a bad marriage to recognize a good one."

Brass helped the CSIs search the place by looking through the closet for some skeletons...that is a metaphor...one that is inappropiate considering the situation they're in. While he did that, Catherine and Grissom searched the bathroon. Catherine searched the medicine cabinet while Grissom searched the toilet. Eugh!

"Well, not even an asprin," Catherine observed before searching the tub, "Look at this. The tub hasn't been used in a while."

"Well, maybe she only uses her other bathroom," Grissom shrugged.

"Tub's the most obvious place to cut up a body. But I don't see anything down there," Catherine said.

"Try phenolphthalein?" Grissom suggested.

"Give me a swab," Catherine requested.

And hand her a swab, Gilbert Grissom did. With it, Catherine swabbed the drain in the bathtub. When she was done, she held it up and squirted the phenolphthalein onto the cotton swab. Immediately, the substance reacted positively.

* * *

><p>"How did you guys do?" Brass asked as Grissom and Catherine approached him.<p>

"We found blood in the drain," Catherine answered.

"You find anything?" Grissom questioned.

"Just the murder weapon," Brass boasted, causing the CSIs to look at him, "Cleaned, in the widow's garage."

* * *

><p>Whoa! Teri Miller is handling an electric saw on a frozen pig! Ooh! This is something worth watching!<p>

"Bone of a pig. They are the most like humans, as you know," Teri said as she began cutting through the bone.

"And this saw matches the one that Brass found in Mrs Bennett's garage?" Catherine asked as Teri finished cutting and Grissom observed the cut.

"Exact model. No doubt about it. The marks on this bone are consistent with the marks on Mel Bennett's bones. Exact same electric saw, same blade," Teri agreed.

"Can you tell us anything about the operator?" Grissom questioned.

"You mean Mrs Bennett?" Catherine corrected, causing Grissom to give her the look, "Oh, right. Reserve judgement."

"How someone operates a saw is as telling as how someone operates a pen. Now, look at the femur. The skipping marks of the saw over the bone tell us whoever used the saw was unfamiliar with its use. An amateur, if you will. Someone with or a weakened nature. Compromised musculature," Teri explained.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean it doesn't add up?" Warrick demanded.<p>

"Well, we're assuming that a couple of lamp hits to the head killed Darren, right?" Sara started.

"For now, yeah," Warrick nodded.

"You read hte coroner's final report. There's no traces of that lamp on his head at points of impact," Sara recalled.

"Yeah, but maybe the materials didn't adhere. Doesn't mean he wasn't hit in the lamp with the lamp," Warrick retorted before Sara looked at the bed where Darren's body was found, "What are you looking for?"

"I don't know. I'll let you know when I find it," Sara answered.

"Well, if you don't know, I can't help you," Warrick told her before seeing the crease of the sofa, "What is this?"

"What? What do you got?" Sara asked.

"Something-something," was Warrick's response.

"Where?" Sara demanded.

"Right there," Warrick answered as he pointed to the crease on the sofa.

"Nice," Sara whistled before taking a photo and Warrick picks something up, "Tiniest diamond in the world."

"Oh, you think so, huh?" Warrick smirked before he tried to cut the glass table...with no luck, "No. Diamonds cut glass. This is some cheap-ass cubic zirconia."

"The bride-to-be's ring, maybe?" Sara suggested, "She was here."

"Let's go ask her," Warrick said.

* * *

><p>"Why do you keep asking me these kinds of questions," Rose demanded in the interview room.<p>

"Well, because someone killed your husband, Mrs Bennett...and was strong enough to wield an electric saw to do it," Brass answered.

"But not strong enough to make clean cuts," Catherine piped in.

"I didn't kill Mel. I loved him," Rose sighed.

"Why didn't you report him missing? Were you used to him leaving or did you fight much?" Brass asked.

"Never. Never. We had a perfect marriage. Perfect," Rose defended.

"And you failed to report him missing for seven months because...?" Grissom trailed off.

"I don't like your tone, young man. Detective, you said I could have an attorney at any time. I think I'd like one now," Rose decided.

"Oh, sure, Mrs Bennett, sure. Just sign this form please," Brass requested.

Brass pushed the form and a pen towards her. There was something that didn't go unnoticed. And that something was the fact that Mrs Bennett had difficulty picking up that pen.

* * *

><p>"Every time we go to find these women, they're somewhere else. You sure you got that address? That desk clerk was talking very quickly," Sara recalled as they approached the Sphere Hotel.<p>

"They talk faster at the sports book," Warrick retortred.

"What?" was all Sara said.

"In the old days," Warrick added.

"Oh. You think we're dressed for a wedding?" Sara asked nervously as she referred to her attire.

"Yeah. Not my wedding," Warrick laughed before Sara's pager beeped, "What?"

"Lynn Henry's SART exam's in," Sara announced.

"She lied to us," Warrick realized after reading the message.

"At this point, I think all those girls are lying to us," Sara retorted.

"Alright. Let's call Homicide and tell them to meet us there. Let's put this to bed before the honeymoon," Warrick suggested.

* * *

><p>"Sorry, Elvis. Your wedding party has to leave the building."<p>

Everyone turned and saw O'Riley, Warrick and Sara walking down the aisle. Immediately, everyone knew they were screwed. The truth is even closer to coming out than before. And they're running out o flies to feed them.

"What?" Joyce whispered.

"Oh my God," Lynn gasped.

"What's going on?" Meg demanded.

"All three of you ladies are coming in for questioning in the murder of Darren Pyne," O'Riley announced.

"Murder? Is this a joke?" Luke laughed nervously.

"The clock's going to explain it all. Believe me," Sara smirked.

"The...the clock? What...what clock?" Luke demanded.

* * *

><p>"Hey. Where you going?" Grissom asked as he saw Teri walking past reception with her kit.<p>

"I'm leaving," Teri answered.

"Town?" Grissom pressed.

"Don't worry. I was able to isolate some soft tissure from the preserved vertebrae. Nick and Kady are working on it now," Teri rold them.

"Well, I'm going to go check that out. Teri, you rule," Catherine complemented as they shook hands.

"Thanks, Catherine," Teri thanked before Catherine left.

"Well...have a safe trip," Grissom wished.

"Yeah. I-I need to aologize for not returning your call last month," Teri started.

"Teri, I admire your dedication to your work," Grissom confessed.

"Um...dedication to my work didn't keep me from returning your call," Teri admitted.

"Oh. It...it was nothing. I-I-I just called to see how you were doing," Grissom told her, "And that Kady misses you."

"Um...well...are you still interested in how I'm doing?" Teri asked nervously.

"Of course. So...what's next?" Grissom questioned.

"Mutilation in the Everglades," Teri answered casually.

"Maybe it was just an alligator," Grissom srugged.

"Yeah. And if it's not, I'll be filing for a change of address again," Teri sighed, "Anyway...I gotta go."

"Do you have to go?" Grissom asked as he stopped her from leaving, "I mean...couldn't you take a later flight?"

"More bones?" Teri guessed.

"Have dinner with me later," Grissom blurted.

"I think the bodies will keep," Teri smiled with a nod.

* * *

><p>"See this tissue?" Nick asked Catherine as they looked through the scope.<p>

"I do. There's no evidence of blood," Catherine observed.

"Yeah. Tells us blood was not pumping through Mel Bennett's veins when he was cut up," Nick proclaimed.

"Which means he was already dead," Catherine summised.

"Yeah," Nick agreed.

"So what does that leave us?" Catherine asked.

"A spectrum of possibilities," Grissom answered from the couch where Kady was sleeping in his lap, "The universe."

"Leaves me with a black widow," Catherine remarked.

* * *

><p>"We want to thank the Crime Lab for discovering that Mrs Bennett's husband was dead when she disassemled him," Margaret Finn thanked.<p>

"Disassembled him? So she admits to taking an electric saw to her husband?" Catherine summised.

"After he was dead, yes. As you know, in Nevada, there's no law against cutting up a dead body," Margaret pointed out.

"There's no law saying it's OK, either," Catherine retorted.

"Does your client care to tell us how her husband came to be dead?" Grissom asked.

"Well, she has no idea. She came home from the grocer's, went into the bathroom and there he was in the tub, deceased," Margaret explained.

"No. I-I want to explain," Rose interrupted.

"Briefly, Mrs Bennett," Margaret advised.

"I couldn't afford the burial. So I-I got the saw...and I cut him into manageable pieces," Rose sighed.

"Manageable?" Catherine repeated.

"You made it easier to transport his body?" Grissom added.

"Yeah. To Mount Charleston," Rose nodded as Brass walked in.

"I called that whistle-blower's line at the Local Treasury Office. You know, the one that handles Social Security Fraud? They were happy to help," Brass said as he handed the papers for Catherine and Grissom to see.

"Well, Mrs Bennett...can you afford the burial now?" Catherine asked.

"What are you talking about?" Margaret demanded.

"It's her husband's Social Security cheques from the last two years," Catherine informed her.

"The signature's the same till seven months ago. Q.D matched the lady's writing. Mrs Bennett, you've been cashing your dearly departed's cheques, haven't you?" Brass asked.

"And that's fraud," Grissom told her.

"It's also a motive," Catherine added.

"You want to alert the government about some forged Social Security cheques, be my guest. But there's no murder here. We're done. Mrs Bennett," Margaret said before they left.

* * *

><p>"Typical Vegas wife – off'ed her old man for the money and there's nothing we can do about it," Catherine sighed.<p>

"We have to go back to the body," Grissom proclaimed.

"Right. There's always a clue except we don't have a body," Catherine retorted.

"We have bones," Grissom added.

* * *

><p>"Skeletal muscle of Mel Bennett. It goes in...contents come out. In 30 seconds – bioassay. I like saying that word. Bioassay. Sounds nubian. So how are you?" Greg Sanders asked Catherine.<p>

"Never better," Catherine answered as she passed Kady her dinner on Greg's lap.

"Yeah? Well, you look good," Greg complimented.

"I try," Catherine smiled.

"Yeah. I heard Grissom's lady friend was in town," Greg smirked.

"Lady friend? Hmm. Wouldn't know anything about that," Catherine lied.

"Really? I thought you and Grissom were tight," Greg recalled.

"We are," Catherine retorted.

"OK. Got it. Private," Greg said as he retrieved the results, "Huh. Digoxin."

"Digoxin?" Catherine repeated.

"What's that?" Kady asked.

"Something that helps people feel better when they're really sick," Greg answered, "But too much of it's never a good thing."

* * *

><p>"It's supposed to treat heart failure. But not if you're taking the amount found in Mel Bennett's bones," Grissom explained.<p>

"She poisoned him," Catherine proclaimed.

"SOMEONE did," Grissom corrected.

* * *

><p>"We know your husband had an overdose in his system. We found it in his bone tissue," Grissom said to Rose as they sat in her living room.<p>

"Did you kill him for his pension checks?" Catherine asked.

"Don't answer that question," Margaret immediately interveined.

"It's OK. Mel took those pills himself. He asked me to leave the house, so he could do it," Rose confessed.

"So now it's suicide?" Brass questioned.

"He was dying from the heart trouble. He was in chronic pain. He asked me to get it over with. I couldn't. I loved him," Rose sighed.

"This is the part that I'm having a hard time wtih. You were able to cut him up when you realized you couldn't afford the burial?" Grissom recalled.

"I lied about the why," Rose admitted.

"Mrs Bennett, don't...," Margaret started.

"No. Let me talk," Rose begged, "Mel made me promise to hide his body so I wouldn't lose his Social Security benefits."

"Because a wife's benefits are cut in half when the husband dies," Catherine realizes.

"Yes. Even if you've spent fifty years by his side – packing his lunch, pressing his work pants. Mel was my whole life. I didn't kill him. I couldn't even put him out of his misery," Rose sobbed.

* * *

><p>"So what do you think, Jim?" Catherine asked as they left.<p>

"I don't know. You're the lab guys. What is the evidence telling you?" Brass retorted.

"Forensically, we can't prove if Mel took the digoxin overdose of if she forced it on him," Grissom told them.

"So that leaves us with one choice," Catherine sighed.

"Equivocal evidence," Grissom said.

"Golden Rule," Catherine agreed.

"Ah. Well, 'when faced with evidence that can equally exonerate or implicate a suspect,' we must 'as objected interpreters of that evidence...side with the defendant.' Tie goes to the runner," Brass recalled.

"Rose goes free. Because we'll never be ablet o prove who administered the fatal dose," Grissom proclaimed.

"I don't think she did it," Catherine sighed.

"OK then. I guess I'm out of here. I'll go start my paperwork," Brass nodded.

"See you. Hey, Brass! What did you get for Kady's birthday?" Catherine asked.

"Her first diary," Brass answered before leaving.

"That'll make Nick cry a little," Catherine laughed before turning to Grissom, "OK. So I was wrong. It wasn't murder."

"It's not a contest," Grissom reminded her.

"You want to go in with me? Give her the good news?" Catherine asked.

"Could you do it? I'm sorta late for a dinner," Grissom told her.

"Sure," Catherine smiled before he left, "Hey, Grissom! What did YOU get Kady for her birthday?"

"A little book I made for her," Grissom told her.

"A book? She can't even read yet!" Catherine reminded him.

"She and Nick can read it together. I put together a few quotes that will help Kady get through life," Grissom explained before reciting one, "A man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life."

"James Allen?" Catherine smiled.

"And Catherine? Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it," Grissom added another quote, "Henry David Thoreau. What about you?"

"I'm taking her and Lindsey to a Hi-5 concert," Catherine smiled.

"The girls would love that very much," Grissom remarked.

"I know. That's why I did it," Catherine smirked before walking back inside.

* * *

><p>"So, ladies of the wedding party, you get a free course in the forensics of sexual intercourse. <strong>(Jason: Oh man. I know where this is going. Me: What? Jason: You're on your own for this scene. BYE! *runs out* Me: Meh. I've heard worse.)<strong> Secrets of our trade. Lynn, when you had your exam for sexual assault, a SART nurse makes a clock like this," Sara started before drawing her diagram on the blackboard while O'Riley just stood next to the blackboard looking uncomfortable, "This is the vagina. And it does tell a monologue. Inguries at 11:00...12:00 or 1:00 indicate consensual sex or what we would call avid. Inguries around the dinner hour...five, six or seven, indicate forced entry. The woman hasn't done anything to help her partner thus sustaining serious bruising."

"Sidle, I'm going to be just outside the door."

O'Riley couldn't make a quicker exit.

"OK, O'Riley. Lynn...your exam showed no evidence of sex in the last 48 hours. Actually, in months. *Joyce snickers quietly* But the epithelials indicate that Darren had sex right before he died and the coroner puts time of death when you've all admitted to be present. So...Meg? Joyce?" Sara asked, "Look. We can run the clock exam on each of you. And the clock is going to tell us what happened. So who wants to go first?"

"I had sex wtih Darren...and it wasn't rape," Meg confessed.

FLASHFORWARD

"Darren had been flirting with me all night. And when it was time to leave, I told the other girls to wait in the car. I know it's crazy. But I thought...I'm in Vegas. It doesn't really count. And...then I don't know what happened. I saw my engagement ring. Then I-I thought about Luke and how he trusts me. I tried to push Darren off of me. But I-I don't think it got through. He wouldn't stop. As soon as I hit him with the lamp, I knew," Meg recalled.

"So you only hit him once?" Warrick summised.

"Mm-hmm. I didn't mean to kill him," Meg nodded.

"Meg, your engagement ring...is that cubic zirconia?" Sara suddenly asked.

"No. It's a real diamond. My fiance wanted me to have the best," Meg boasted.

"Does your fiance have a zirconia ring?" Warrick questioned.

"Zirconia-studded," Meg corrected, "It's a promise ring. He told me to save my money...for our honeymoon."

"Damaged? No. My ring is fine," Luke reassured them.

"May we see it?" Warrick requested.

Luke took off his promise ring and handed it to Warrick. Upon first glance, Sara and Warrick immediately noticed that the ring had a zirconia stud that was missing. They put two and two together and realized he was in the motel room the night Darren Payne was killed.

"You were in the hotel room that night, weren't you, Luke?" Warrick suddenly asked. But it was more of a statement than a question.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Luke scoffed.

"What happened? You got wind of the party?" Warrick guessed.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Where is she?" Luke demanded as he grabbed Lynn by the wrists and pulled her out of the car._

"_I don't know where she is," Lynn confessed._

"_Let her go!" Joyce pleaded Luke._

"_Your husband told me you were here! Now tell me where she is!" Luke screamed in her face._

"_Let go of me," Lynn begged._

"_Just give me the room number. Tell me where she is," Luke requested.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Bruised up Lynn's wrists," Warrick said.

"Meg, you did have sex with Darren the dancer. Maybe you even tried to stop in the midde of it. But something got your attention," Sara went on, "Luke, you threw the lamp – probably on the floor. Understandable rage.'

"You did what any guy in your position would do. But you didn't stop with one hit. And you didn't know that you had lost a piece of your ring," Warrick added.

"Except we found it," Sara piped in.

"Honey, I'm sorry," Meg apologized.

"We just...we just were hoping we could get married. Put it all behind us," Luke confessed.

"Laws don't end when you come to Vegas," Warrick retorted as he placed the ring on the table.

* * *

><p>"I'm surprised. I'm having a nice time," Grissom admitted to Teri who sat across from him.<p>

"Were you expecting a bad time?" Teri asked.

"No. I just thought we might be uncomfortable away from work," Grissom immediately defended himself.

"Are you?" Teri questioned nervously.

"No," Grissom responded without hesitation.

"Nor am I," Teri smiled.

"Good," Grissom smiled right back.

"It's kind of like that old saying: 'How a person does one thing is...,'" Teri started.

"'How a person does everything,'" Grissom finished.

"Exactly," Teri agreed before Grissom's pager went off.

"Excuse me," Grissom begged her.

"Sure," Teri nodded before sipping her drink, "What's going on?"

"They found two bodies in a crack den at the end of the Strip. Evidently, they've been dead awhile. They need me to do an insect analysis ASAP," Grissom sighed.

"Oh. Well...you are the bug guy," Teri pointed out.

"Yeah. But I asked you to postpone your flight," Grissom retorted.

"It's OK. It happens," Teri reassured him.

"Maybe I can-."

Grissom was cut off by his phone ringing.

"I'm sorry," Grissom apologized to Teri before answering, "Yeah. Grissom. Alright. Look...make sure the paramedics don't leave and have the primary on the scene take photographs of the corpses at two-minute intervals until I arrive. Alright?"

But when he hung up and turned back, Teri wasn't there anymore. She left. Grissom sighed sadly. Well, there goes their chance of being together.

Sometimes, being a CSI is a blessing as well as a curse.

* * *

><p><strong>I am SO SORRY I took so long to update! Other matters came to my attention that needed to be dealt with. I won't take as long next time. You can take that to the bank.<strong>

**BYE AND PLEASE REVIEW!**


	16. Table Stakes

**Table Stakes: The home of the legendary Las Vegas showgirl Portia Richmond is the host of a fundraiser event for a charity that works to help burn victims. During the party, an uninvited guest is discovered floating facedown in the pool. They later discover that Portia has mysteriously disappeared and the young couple who are currently 'house-sitting' for her are the LVPD's primary suspects in the case of both Portia's disappearance and the murder of the uninvited guest in the pool. The Sheriff gives Grissom nothing but grief due to the fact the case the working is high-profile and affects his campaign run for Mayor. Meanwhile, Warrick works a mob-style hit in a glass elevator.**

**Next, Too Tough to Die: A woman is abducted from a parking garage, raped, fatally shot in the head and left for dead on a highway. Grissom, Sara and Nick are the leads in the case. Sara finds herself getting emotional involved in the case as she becomes obsessed with identifying their latest Jane Doe and catching the perpetrator, causing Grissom to worry about her. Meanwhile, a Day Shift CSI has quit and Catherine and Warrick have to take over one of his cases: a neighbour's disbute over a motorcycle that eventually lead to an incident where one neighbour shot the other in the torso, thus killing him. However, one important piece of evidence has mysteriously disappeared and the case is due to go to court in just four days.**

**Then, Face Lift: A robber trying to break into the safe at a pottery shop in the desert is surprised and killed. As Grissom, Catherine and Nick work the leads in the case, they discover a set of fingerprints that belong to a four-year-old girl who was kidnapped 21 years ago. In another case, a woman was incinerated sleeping on her easy chair. And as Warrick and Sara work the case, Sara begins to suspect that the death of their latest victim is due to spontaneous human combustion.**

**Later, $35K O.B.O: An attempted carjacking leads to a double homicide in a rain-soaked crime scene with only one witness. But the case becomes even more complicated for the CSIs when they find the car which becomes another crime scene. Meanwhile, three senior citizens are killed when an apartment building suddenly collapses and Catherine has to figure out how it all happened.**

**Followed by, Gentle, Gentle: The infant child of a rich family is kidnapped in the middle of the night, causing Grissom and his team to launch an investigation. However, the evidence reveals not much about the kidnapping but that the family is hiding something, which will potentially cause the case to take a darker turn.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Sounds of Silence**

**Justice Is Served**

**Evaluation Day**

**Strip Strangler**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>Some of Las Vegas' high elite has gathered around a mansion for a party tonight. They have gathered at the house of Portia Richmond, one of Vegas' most famous showgirls. Mingling with the high elite of Las Vegas is a man named Patrick Haynes. Or so it seems…<p>

"Nice suit," Patrick Haynes complimented a guest before approaching Sheriff Brian Mobley, "Welcome."

"Congratulations, Patrick," he complimented.

"Well thank you, Sheriff. Your presence here means a lot tonight," Patrick responded.

"Is that for me?" Mrs Burton asked coyly.

"Are you talking about the glass or the bubbly?" Patrick questioned.

"I was talking about the smile on your face," Mrs Burton corrected, causing Patrick to laugh.

"Well, if I'm smiling, it's because we raised $1.6 million for Mrs Richmond's Burn Centre tonight," Patrick gloated before noticing his wife Amanda stepping up on the side and handing a glass over to Mrs Burton, "That sort of generosity deserves a glass, huh? To Portia."

"To Portia," Mrs Burton echoed as they raised their glasses to a large portrait of Portia.

"It's a shame she couldn't be here tonight," Patrick sighed before approaching his wife, "Hey. We did it."

"We sure did," Amanda smiled as they shared a kiss.

Their little romantic moment was cut short by a loud scream. The scream of a woman. Immediately, everybody in the house raced outside towards the pool. They saw a woman. Dressed for the party. Floating face first on the surface. Dead. Patrick and Amanda joined their guests. Immediately, they knew that a dead body wasn't going to look good for them.

"Excuse…excuse me," Patrick requested kindly as he left the scene.

He needed to call for help.

* * *

><p>Law enforcement arrived within moments after receiving the 911 call from the party. People assumed that was because of the fact that the Sheriff of Las Vegas was one of the guests at the party. There is that. But it was also their desire to catch the murderer before someone else met this woman's fate from the same killer. One of the officers volunteered to walk into the pool to retrieve the body of the dead woman. He flipped her onto her back and carefully pulled her towards the side, making sure that he didn't contaminate anything that could potentially become evidence.<p>

"Nice tux, Sheriff," Gil Grissom complimented as he joined the Sheriff and Brass after making his way through the crowd.

"Do you know whose house this is?" Brian asked him.

"To know this town is to know its celebrities and their histories. Portia Richmond was a legendary showgirl in her day. But, that's not her," Grissom pointed out.

"Maybe 30 years ago when she was the headliner at the Lido de Paris," Brass corrected.

"Who found her?" Grissom changed the subject.

"Look around you," Brass sighed as he made a gesture towards the numerous party guests, "This is going to take all night."

"Come for the hors d'oeuvres. Stay for the interrogation," Grissom remarked.

Insert title credits here

"Yes, sir. Well, I'll do my best," Grissom promised before hanging up his phone as his team arrived, "Alright, you guys. Like I said on the phone, it was a big party. And it's a huge house. So we're going to divide and conquer. Nick, tonight you do the overall sketch, alright? Kadelin can stay with you. Catherine and Warrick, you got the pool area."

With the jobs handed out, Grissom turned around to do his own: finding potential suspects. Immediately, the remaining people standing near the Tahoe – Nick, Kady, Catherine and Warrick – began to work.

"I'll take the shallow end," Catherine immediately decided.

"Guess I'm going deep," Warrick shrugged.

The two worked together as a team. Catherine worked at the shallow end as promised. She observed everything there was to know about the pool before her. From the ledges to the bottom of the chlorine-filled water. Warrick was the same. Snapping pictures. Nothing out of the ordinary so far. Then he noticed a glimmering object on the bottom of the pool. Glimmering in the moonlight.

Nick and Kady – who is now four years old after celebrating her birthday a few days ago – were by the lagoon that happened to be nearby. Staring at the fish in the water. Fish that just happened to be piranha. They also noticed that there were numerous piranhas swimming around.

"I wonder how much it costs to feed them," Nick pondered.

"A lot," Kady shrugged as Nick wrapped a hand around her shoulders.

Then they noticed Grissom standing over them. He moved his flashlight and his eyes over Nick's bare sketchpad. Immediately, Nick understood the message his boss was conveying to him: shut up and get to work. Kady started laughing hysterically.

"Hmm? Right," Nick grumbled before turning to his young daughter, "What are you laughing at?"

"Daddy!" Kady squealed in between her giggle fit as her father tickled her.

Catherine worked the grass area of the crime scene. Every single detail could lead to a suspect. So every single piece of evidence the CSIs collected possesses significant potential value. And…she found something that could potentially be that.

A fake fingernail.

Warrick looked around and saw that no one was looking or in the same area. Perfect chance. Slowly, he removed his shirt, revealing his black skin and perfectly sculpted torso. Slowly, he waded into the water and when he was in the deep end, took the plunge. He swam over to the shiny object and picked it up. It was a turquoise and silver cuff link with the initials CM. Warrick emerged and Nick chuckled as he turned to look at Grissom.

"Marco!" Kady called.

"Polo!" Warrick responded with an affectionate laugh.

"You want to get out of there, sir? Pool closed at sundown," Nick teased.

"Can I get you a towel, sir?" Catherine joked.

"Yeah, please," Warrick responded dryly as he walked out of the pool and went to hug Kady, who giggled and hid behind Nick's leg.

"What'd you find?" Grissom asked.

"Looks like a cuff link. Initials CM," Warrick answered.

"Turquoise and silver. Breaks down the regionality to the southwest. Maybe Arizona, New Mexico, Texas," Catherine observed.

"Good catch, pal," Grissom complimented before instructing, "You get the guest list. Check for CMs."

"I'm gonna be wet all night," Warrick whined, causing Nick and Kady to snicker.

* * *

><p>Grissom walked into the autopsy room. As soon as he did, confusion greeted his sight. When he walked inside, he saw Doc Robbins hunched over some sort of machine by the far counter. Upon closer inspection, Grissom was able to identify the machine.<p>

A coffee machine.

"I defect a bitter alkaloid," Grissom remarked.

"Don't tell anybody. My weakness," Doc Robbins confessed as he handed a mug over to Grissom, "One macchiato, tall."

"Coffee machine courtesy of the city, I presume?" Grissom guessed.

"When the coroner asks for something, they don't question it," Doc Robbins boasted.

"Cheers," Grissom said.

"Cheers. Come on," Doc Robbins invited as they walked over to the body.

"Have we I.D'D her yet?" Grissom asked.

"Working on it. She's had a few upgrades. Submalar augmentation. Rhinoplasty. Silicone breasts," Doc Robbins began listing.

"Run a serial number on the implants. Instant I.D," Grissom pointed out as she looks at the body.

"Our field's come a long way, hasn't it?" Doc Robbins remarked, earning a hum from Grissom before explaining how she died, "Got a whole menu here. Petechiael haemorrhaging, bruising around the neck, broken hyoid bone."

"She was strangled," Grissom surmised.

"No water in the lungs. She was dead before she hit the water," Doc Robbins added as he drank some of his coffee.

"Strangulation's a man's crime," Grissom stated.

"Preaching to the converted," Doc Robbins added.

"Do me a favour, Doc. Photograph her injuries. Run a sex assault kit. Include infrared for subdural bruising," Grissom requested as he went to leave…only to stop as Doc Robbins took his coffee.

"This is our little secret," Doc Robbins reminded him.

* * *

><p>"Hey," Catherine greeted Warrick.<p>

"Hi," Warrick replied.

"419 at the Sphere. Glass elevator. You're on it," Catherine proclaimed.

"This is a big case! I'm in a groove here!" Warrick protested.

"Well, groove on down to The Strip," Catherine instructed.

"Whatever happened to 'you gross the tape, you go the distance?'" Warrick whined.

"I was probably saying that to get you to service my needs at the time," Catherine shrugged before the phone began to ring.

"Great," Warrick grumbled as he went to get dressed.

"_Hello?_"

"Hey, Sara. You sleeping?" Catherine asked before smiling, "Oh…"

* * *

><p>"Excuse me for a minute," Brass requested Patrick and Amanda before approaching Grissom and Catherine, "Hi. Well, I got the horsepower on everybody here. 99% of the people know nothing, saw nothing. Big surprise."<p>

"What about Portia Richmond?" Grissom asked.

"Well, according to her friends, she's been romancing some young stallion for over a month. She's in live. She's cruising the Mediterranean on some yacht, eating cheese cubes. Got a couple watching the house. Apparently, she often took in strays," Brass explained before bringing them over towards Patrick and Amanda, "Mr and Mrs Haynes, this is Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows. They're from the Crime Lab."

"Hi," Catherine greeted.

"Do you mind if we ask you a few more questions?" Grissom asked.

"By all means," Patrick invited.

"How is it that you know Portia Richmond?" Grissom questioned.

"Oh, we met her at the Murado at the top of the Mediterranean," Amanda recalled.

"You need an oil well in your backyard to belong to that place," Brass remarked.

"Private club. Fifty grand a year just to walk through the door," Catherine added.

"But worth every penny," Patrick smiled.

"It was like we'd known Portia all our lives," Amanda laughed, "Has that ever happened to you?"

"Once," Grissom recalled as he remembered his close relationship with the late Abigail Stokes.

"We were new in town. Portia introduced us around and took us under her wing," Patrick told them.

"We were from back east and we had mutual acquaintances," Amanda added.

"And you're house-sitting? Or you're living in?" Catherine wanted to know.

"House-sitting while hunting for our own place. Portia refused to take any money from us," Patrick answered.

"She wouldn't even let us pay for a dinner," Amanda piped in.

"That's why, when she took off for Europe…," Patrick trailed off.

"This charity event," Amanda gestured to the place around her.

"It's the least we could do. After all, we know how to throw a party," Patrick boasted proudly.

"You can say that again," Brass remarked.

"Did you know the deceased woman?" Grissom finally dropped the bomb for the night.

"No," Patrick shook his head.

"And you, miss?" Grissom asked Amanda.

"Well, as far as I know, she wasn't even on the guest list," Amanda revealed.

"Something wrong?" Patrick questioned.

"Yes. A woman's dead," Grissom answered.

* * *

><p>Before they knew it, Grissom and Catherine were inside the Mediterranean Hotel standing in the backstage area of the showroom. Numerous girls wearing their outfits filled the room. They were talking to the stage manager who knew the victim, Lacey Duvall, who was his employee.<p>

"Lacey Duvall murdered? She was here last night. Unbelievable!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Could you put us in touch with someone who was close to her?" Catherine requested.

At that moment, the showgirls decided to walk past Catherine, Grissom and the manager. Grissom, being the adorable geek he is, allowed his jaw to drop as he stared at the girls. The girls didn't pay any attention and if they did, they didn't care. They were used to ogling men.

"Sure. Rachel Carson. They were best friends. Like sisters. She's in back. Follow me," he responded as he lead them towards the back.

"Close your mouth," Catherine requested.

"She was seeing some rich married guy," Rachel told Catherine during the interview while Grissom looked around the dressing room.

"Did he have a name?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah, but she wouldn't tell me. You know, that's the thing that was so weird. He refused to tell her anything about himself. Anything. I told her it gave me the creeps but you couldn't talk to her. You know?" Rachel answered.

"Turned on by the mystery and the sex. I've been there," Catherine recalled.

Grissom was examining the dressing table that belonged to the late Lacey Duvall. He noticed a small framed plaque that read 'Lacey Duvall Promoted'. There was also something else. Something that interested him greatly.

"Hi," a dancer greeted as she walked in, "Do you need a hand with that?"

"Uh…no thanks. I'll be fine," Grissom responded as he finished snapping on his gloves.

The dancer walked away at that, knowing that she wasn't going to get any attention. Grissom sat at the table and picked up the objects that interested him: a music box. He opened it and the song that began playing was 'Waltz of the Flowers'.

"Catherine?" Grissom called, causing her to turn to face him, "Tchaikovsky's 'Waltz of the Flowers.'"

"What's with the smile?" Catherine asked.

Grissom looked underneath the box and couldn't help but smile at the engraved plague.

_To my Beloved Portia,_

_Your Husband, L_

_March 7, 1969_

"It's playing our song," Grissom smirked.

* * *

><p>"Detective Conroy," Warrick greeted.<p>

"What happened? You get bumped from first class?" Conroy asked as Warrick arrived.

"No. I do my best work solo. On the clock, that is. What you got?" Warrick asked as he let the female detective guide him to the body in the elevator.

"Walk-through. In plain sight. Risky move," Conroy remarked.

"All around the ten-ring. Once between the eyes. Entry wound give you anything? Small calibre?" Warrick questioned.

"You like to work solo. Take a look for yourself," Conroy retorted as Warrick knelt before the body with his flashlight and looked around, "Any thoughts?"

"Professional hit," Warrick surmised as he saw the coin ticked into his forehead over the bullet wound, the gun used to kill him and the burnt pieces of a newspaper as well as the empty bullet casing on the floor.

_Begin flashback_

_The victim, Tyson Green, was standing casually in the glass elevator. The hit man walked inside carrying a newspaper. He hit a button and the doors slid shut._

"_Hey! Well, how did the Knicks make out?" Tyson asked._

"_Better than you."_

_That was when Tyson was shot five times at point blank in the torso. He fell to the ground. Dead as can be. The Hit Man fired one final shot in the forehead, making it look even more like a professional hit. He dropped the newspaper and the gun and placed the coin on his forehead. Then he ran before anyone would be able to notice that he was the killer._

_End flashback_

"Times have changed since the canary days, huh?" Warrick remarked.

"Canary days?" Conroy repeated in confusion.

"Yeah. Brass used to tell Kady and I that back in the day, when the mob would make a hit, they'd leave a canary. 'Cause the guy sang," Warrick explained.

"And the quarter stands for…?" Conroy left the question open.

"Call someone who cares," Warrick clarified.

"It's almost like the guy wants to get caught," Conroy stated.

"When you leave a gun, you know it's clean. The gun just traces back to itself," Warrick sighed.

"The killer cuts you off at the knees. What are you going to do?" Conroy asked him.

"All I can do. Follow protocol," Warrick answered as he looked at the elevator panel.

"You're going to print the entire elevator?" Conroy asked in disbelief.

"It's like the circle bar on a Friday night. Three million people on top of each other," Warrick remarked.

* * *

><p>"Let me guess. You're wondering why Lacey Duvall had a music box engraved to Portia Richmond had a music box engraved to Portia Richmond," Catherine guessed as she walked into Grissom's office.<p>

"You think?" Grissom answered dryly.

"Maybe it's as simple as they knew each other and she gave it to her," Catherine shrugged.

"If they knew each other, why wasn't she on the guest list?" Grissom asked as he flipped over the box, "March 7, 1969. Mean anything to you? Meant something to the RIchmonds."

"You know, when Eddie and I were first married – when things were kind of good – on the anniversary of the day we first met, he'd always give me a lace teddy. And Nick used to always give Abby a charm for her charm bracelet on the anniversary of their first meeting. He bought her that heart-shaped charm bracelet not long before they were married. Remember that one?" Catherine smiled at the memory, "Well, I mean, I know it's not a music box. But..."

"She loved those charms. She always wore them, saying that they were her lucky charms. Anyway, music box, lace teddy, charms; it's all the same thing – it's tradition. And the joy of tradition is in the constant repetition," Grissom remarked.

"Right," Catherine agreed.

* * *

><p>"What am I? Working food and beverage at one of the hotels? I haven't had a day off in three weeks. I mean, if they're going to call me in, throw me a bone. Give me the 419 in the elevator," Sara whined as she and Nick walked in the hallway, Nick carrying his four-year-old daughter.<p>

"Someone's bitter," Nick remarked as he hoisted Kady higher on his hip.

"I'm tired!" Sara defended.

"You? Tired? I thought you never sleep!" Nick scoffed, laughing as Sara yawned, "Nice. Nice."

"Someone's exhausted," Sara remarked as she gestured to Kady.

"I hope this never ends," Nick sighed.

"You know soon, she's gonna start school, right?" Sara reminded him.

"What is it with you guys and reminding me how fast my baby is growing up?" Nick whined.

"It's our job," Sara smirked as they walked into the DNA lab to Greg blaring his music.

"What up, G?" Nick asked as Greg turned down the music.

"You're awake. I hate you," Sara grumbled.

"A couple of glasses of merlot. Rack of lamb on my day off. A nice day out with my beautiful kjemisk prinsesse. I slept like a four-year-old yesterday. Mind the pun. You look horrible," Greg complimented.

"Thanks, Greg," Sara thanked sarcastically.

"Don't look at me. I've got 'sunshine' all night!" Nick defended, earning a glare from Sara, "Check for DNA in the sexual assault kit and the fingernail, please."

"Everything has to be in CODIS ASAP," Sara added.

"Oh, is that all? I want to know who's going to authorize my overtime," Greg smirked.

"Suck it up, Greg. You're well-rested," Sara retorted as she walked out of the lab.

"You want a valium for her?" Greg asked the silent Nick.

"I HEARD THAT!"

"And yes, Nick. I would love to look after my goddaughter," Greg smiled as he took Kady from his arms, "And yes. I remember the drill. No inappropriate music or language. If she falls asleep, don't play the music too loud. Keep an eye on her at all times. Don't let her run off. Did I miss anything?"

"Make sure she eats," Nick stated dryly as he settled her on the couch.

"I am one of her godfathers, Nick," Greg reminded him just as dryly.

"OK. Butterfly," Nick whispered as he planted butterfly kisses on Kady's neck, causing her to giggle, "Eskimo."

Greg smiled to the sounds of Kady's giggles as he watched Kady and Nick rub noses with each other. It was called the Eskimo kiss. That and the butterfly kiss was something they always did. It all started when Kady was nearly two weeks old and he was going out in the field without her for the first time. Nick was giving her a kiss goodbye and she liked butterfly and Eskimo kisses. Since then, it became tradition.

"Love you, daddy," Kady smiled as she hugged Nick tightly.

"Love you too, baby," Nick whispered as he returned the embrace and kissed her head before leaving, "Bye, butterfly."

"Bye, daddy!" Kady called to his retreating form.

"You two make me sick. You know that, right?" Greg joked, earning a grin and a giggle from Kady.

* * *

><p>Catherine and Grissom were back inside the Richmond Mansion examining everything. Specifically, the music boxes Portia Richmond has locked away in her display case. Catherine grabbed one and read the plaque on the bottom,<p>

"March 7, 1963."

"March 7, 1961," Grissom read.

"March 7, 1958. March 7, 1986," Catherine continued reading.

"I bet he gave her one every anniversary until he died," Grissom remarked.

"She wouldn't give away a gift this sentimental," Catherine pointed out as she opened another box to have the sound of Fur Elise greet her ears, "It's not Waltz of the Flowers."

That was when they began hearing the thumping noises coming from somewhere in the house. Grissom noticed and stepped away from the display cabinet to locate the source of the sound. Catherine closed the box and returned it to its former location, moving away as well. The thumping noises returned.

"The seal on the door wasn't broken," Catherine observed.

They walked towards the bedroom, where the door was slightly ajar. They heard heavy breathing and some groaning emitting from the other side of the door. Grissom lightly knocked on the door.

"Las Vegas Police Department," Grissom called.

That was when he opened the door. Immediately, he and Catherine thanked God and any other higher power that they didn't bring Kady along to the crime scene with them. They found Patrick and Amanda on the couch in a very…_compromising_ position. Grissom shut the door and turned to Catherine.

"Caught in the act," Catherine smirked.

"I think that was the point," Grissom remarked.

"Oh yeah," Catherine whistled as they walked away.

* * *

><p>Sara sat at the table inside the break room ready to give into the temptation and fall asleep. She couldn't help but envy her four-year-old goddaughter who could fall asleep whenever she wanted (within reason and her father's energy levels). Nick handed her a cup of coffee, getting tired of seeing her suffer.<p>

"No. I can't drink anymore coffee. My body clock is so screwed up. I just want a steak and a shot," Sara decreed.

"Tut's Tomb. Steak and eggs. $1.99," Nick offered.

"Food? Good idea. You're on," Sara proclaimed, sitting up straighter at the prospect of something to awaken her.

"It's what I live for!" Greg proclaimed as he jumped into the room carrying Kady, "You guys are never going to believe this! You ready?"

"So much for the steak," Sara grumbled as she turned to Nick, "I'll take the coffee."

"Block your ears, baby," Nick immediately requested as he handed the cup of coffee to Sara.

"OK, Daddy," Kady nodded as she blocked her ears.

"Yeah. OK. Sexual assault kit on Lacey Duvall – dead showgirl – came back positive for semen. But that's nothing. Ran it through CODIS. Seminal DNA matches a cold case from Texas. A dead cheerleader! Ten years ago!" Nick cheered.

"Two for one," Nick laughed.

"OK. I'm up," Sara sighed.

Greg cheered in excitement and ran out of the room with Kady hoisted up like an airplane. Kady's giggles were music to the ears of Nick, Greg and Sara.

"He didn't even let me give my daughter butterfly and Eskimo!" Nick pouted.

"Butterfly and Eskimo?" Sara repeated in confusion.

"Really? You've never heard of a butterfly or Eskimo kiss?" Nick asked Sara in disbelief, earning a 'no' indication from Sara, "I can't believe you!"

* * *

><p>"Sir, I have four criminalists working on this. No…as soon as we find something tangible, I'll call you. I promise," Grissom swore as he hung up.<p>

"Sheriff?" Brass guessed.

"Yeah. He calls me every hour. I can't get anything done," Grissom whined to Brass.

"Every half for me," Brass moaned as Patrick and Amanda walked down the stairs in their robes.

"I hope we didn't embarrass you," Patrick said.

"A little late for that," Catherine remarked.

"Yeah, uh…hi," Brass greeted as Amanda sat down while Patrick went to fix a beverage, "I just have a few more questions about the whereabouts of Mrs Richmond."

"Fire away. Drinks for anybody else?" Patrick offered.

"No thank you," Grissom declined as he eyed the straw Amanda was drinking from with interest.

"So, let's, uh…let's just take baby steps. Where is she?" Brass asked.

"On a yacht somewhere in the Greek Isles," Patrick answered.

"And if someone wanted to reach her?" Brass pressed.

"You have a compass?" Patrick questioned with a laugh.

"Yeah," Brass nodded.

"She's incommunicado," Patrick told them.

"Big word," Catherine remarked.

"Have we done something wrong?" Amanda asked before noticing the way Grissom watched her, "What?"

"May I have your straw?" Grissom asked, earning an amused look from Amanda, "I…I collect them."

Amanda laughed but handed the straw to Grissom anyway.

"Thank you. Oh…mind if I look around a little?" Grissom requested.

"Have at it," Patrick nodded.

* * *

><p>"The Hostess' bedroom," Grissom smirked, earning a hum from Catherine, "Too kinky."<p>

"Let me see if Portia took her bathing suit with her," Catherine mused as she approached the closet and took a look inside, "We've got a bathing suit, lingerie, jewels, wallet, bags; I'm not so sure she's gone anywhere."

"Shall we do the room too?" Grissom asked.

They checked everywhere in the room. The carpet. The dresser. The bathroom. The bed. Everywhere. Suddenly, Grissom examined the fireplace and the gravel surrounding the hole. Hidden in the gravel just outside the fireplace, Grissom found a tooth. And he immediately knew whose it was.

"I think the tooth fairy might have just left us a piece of Portia Richmond," Grissom remarked.

"What?" Catherine demanded.

"Take a look," Grissom invited as Catherine walked over and took a look.

"Ugh!" Catherine exclaimed in disgust, "I guess now we have two cases. We've got a body without a murderer and a murder without a body."

* * *

><p>"Oh man. I got to get a raise for this!" Greg proclaimed.<p>

"Greg. Why don't you start the DNA profile on the tooth so that we can tell it's Portia Richmond?" Catherine requested.

"OK. Well, but getting the DNA from the tooth is going to be easy. What am I supposed to compare it to?" Greg retorted.

"How about the toothbrush and the hairbrush that we took from her vanity?" Catherine suggested.

"Why don't you go talk to the dead-end twins over there?" Greg shot back.

"Busy," Grissom responded casually as he was turned into Kady's teddy bear and pillow.

Catherine was the one who walked to the microscope Greg was pointing to. She looked through the scope and saw a microscopic view of the bristles from the hairbrush and toothbrush. Nothing. All of it was clean.

"Nothing. Hmm…so, either she's extremely hygienic. Or…," Catherine trailed off.

"Somebody did some serious spring cleaning," Grissom finished as he stood up with Kady in his arms.

"If you want to know if it's Portia, you got to get the DNA somewhere," Greg told them.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe I've been in this town twenty years and I've never seen the Liberace Museum!" Catherine exclaimed in disbelief as she and Brass walked into the Liberace Museum.<p>

"That's funny. I was just here a couple days ago," Brass remarked, earning a look from Catherine.

"I believe it," Catherine shrugged.

"WE have all of Liberace's costumes on display here. This one, for example, worn by Mr Liberace in the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans," Tony Mumms, the curator of the Liberace Museum explained as he gestured to said costume.

"Lovely," Catherine commented.

"Did you ever see one of the old shows? The Lido in the '50s?" Tony asked.

"Before my time," Brass shook his head.

"You weren't even born then, of course. Every dancer was from France. The attention to detail in the costumes was unparalleled and the audience dressed to the nines," Tony recalled.

"Oh yeah," Catherine remarked in agreement.

"The town was different then. The other great cities – New York, Chicago, London – they restored. But in this town, they destroy. Hmm. So you want to see what belonged to Portia Richmond?" Tony asked.

"Yes, please," Catherine answered, before Tony indicated to a display beside them.

"Folies Bergere, 1959," Grissom introduced.

"Yeah…um, looks heavy," Brass cleared is throat.

"Imagine that on your head two shows a night. She used over fifteen combs and various epoxies and glues. They damn near had to drive a spike in her head to keep it from falling off," Tony told them.

"Ow," Catherine cringed, her head hurting as she looked underneath the headpiece.

"She lost all her hair," Tony added.

That was when Catherine looked at the curator and lifted the headpiece from its pedestal. Immediately, she noticed the hair stuck in the headpiece. Portia's hair, to be exact.

"DNA heaven," Catherine remarked.

* * *

><p>"Warrick!" Shibley called out to Warrick as he walked through the hallway, "Personal artefacts from your elevator victim."<p>

"Cool. You got an I.D for me?" Warrick asked as he accepted the envelope Shibley was offering him.

"The driver's license is local. Tyson Green. 35. Can't drive without corrective lenses," Shibley answered.

"Too bad he wasn't driving that elevator," Warrick remarked as they walked into the evidence vault and emptied the contents of the envelope and letting out a whistle of appreciation, "Ooh! Chicago bankroll."

"This guy's not from out of town!" Shibley protested.

"No. That's just a term. Old school," Warrick explained as he looked at the receipt, "Shrimp cocktail appetizer. Surf and turf dinner. Two glasses of wine. All comped."

Warrick flipped over the receipt to check the date. It was fairly recent. In fact, it was a few weeks ago. And it was for two people.

"Free food. Nice," Shibley remarked.

"It ain't free. Believe me," Warrick shoot his head.

Ten he noticed the Casino Credit Marker. Reference number #150328. It was for $400 and the date on the marker is the same date as the receipt for that dinner. Warrick stood there silent. He remembered those days when he used to get those Casino Credit Markers. When he used to gamble. On and off the job. Then Holly Gribbs died on his watch and he nearly lost his goddaughter because of it. Now, he's reformed.

"You OK?" Shibley asked, snapping Warrick out of his daze.

"Yeah, yeah. Been a long time since I seen these," Warrick remarked when Detective Conroy walked in.

"Hey, Brown. Just talked to Bobby Dawson in ballistics. He ran that .22 from the elevator. Serial number came back – Vincent Morgan. Lives on the west side," Conroy announced.

"Cool," Warrick nodded.

"Coming?" Conroy asked.

"Yeah. Will you log these for me?" Warrick requested as he handed the markers to Shibley.

"Yeah," Shibley nodded.

"Mandy, you got any prints off of that quarter I found on the vic?" Warrick asked Mandy on his way through.

"Still working on it, Warrick. I don't work one case a day," was Mandy's answer.

* * *

><p>Nick and Sara were doing work in the layout room at the CSI lab. Working the homicide of Lacey Duvall and the possible homicide of Portia Richmond. Nick was slowly beginning to get anxious. The majority of the case, Kady had been staying with Greg in the DNA lab. To say he missed her would be an understatement. But high profile cases are the cases he really kept her away from. They have been known to turn dangerous and if anything happened to his little girl…well, he couldn't think about it. <strong>(AN: Dropping what happens in future seasons here, people!)<strong>

"Bingo!" Sara cheered as her computer dinged, "Well, that only took 45 minutes."

"What do you got?" Nick asked.

"A hit off Patrick Haynes' social security number. There's only one problem. He's an eight-month-old infant that died ten years ago," Sara answered.

"Same social? You're sure?" Nick asked, earning a look from Sara.

Sara wasn't lying. Right there in front of her was the social security number for Patrick Haynes. The information was crystal clear.

_Haynes, Patrick SS#5688556267_

_DOB 1/10/1990_

_Deceased 8/15/1990_

_Age: 8 months_

Nick opened the box in front of him. It was the file for that ten-year-old Texan cold case involving the dead cheerleader. He opened the box and took out the file inside. Immediately, he opened the file and found something that excited him greatly.

"BAM!" Nick cheered.

"Something good?" Sara asked.

"Oh yeah!" Nick nodded eagerly.

* * *

><p>Catherine rounded the corner towards the DNA lab to stop at the sight that greeted her eyes. Outside, she saw Kady giggling non-stop. Catherine actually began worrying she would suffocate. Then she heard the show music and saw Greg dancing out of the DNA Lab. Kicking. Swivelling hips. Everything.<p>

With Portia Richmond's headdress on.

"Match! Boom! Match! Boom! Match! Boom! Boom! Match!" Greg sung as he finished his routine with the jazz hands, causing Kady to cheer and clap.

"You wanna take that thing off your head, Greg? It's evidence," Catherine reminded him, smiling as if she was trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Cool your jets, Cath. I already got all the evidence out of it. Now…it's all woman," Greg corrected as he swung the dangling bits of beads over his shoulders, "Did you ever wear one of these when you were dancing?"

"I wore nothing but skin," Catherine answered.

"Ooh," Greg hummed.

Catherine then cleared her throat. At first, Greg was confused. Then…he just knew. He turned around and saw Grissom standing there removing his glasses. An unrecognizable look on his face. Immediately, Greg removed the headpiece and held it behind his back, causing Kady to laugh even more.

"I, uh, compared the DNA from the tooth with hair follicles found inside the headdress. I think we have a match, sir. And I think we may have a homicide. Excuse me," Greg reported as he walked into the lab. **(AN: Best part of the episode. I almost whizzed my pants watching it! Could you imagine me having to write it?)**

* * *

><p>"So, did I, like, break the law by not reporting it?" Vincent Morgan asked.<p>

Currently, Warrick and Detective Conroy were in the valet area of the MGM Grand Hotel. They have located their suspect and are now questioning him. Well…Warrick was questioning him. Conroy was checking out his claims that his house was robbed and his gun was stolen.

"It's a good idea that, when your house is robbed, you report that your registered gun was stolen," Warrick retorted.

"Guy's story checks out. He was robbed," Conroy intervened.

"Yeah, look, my wife – she's not real comfortable about having the gun in the house ever since we had our boy and I told her that I'd gotten rid of it. But I never did. I mean, man, the last thing I ever expected was it'd be used in a murder," Vincent confessed.

"We're gonna keep your name on ice for a while. Thanks for your time," Warrick thanked.

"Hey, thanks. Right on," Vincent responded as Warrick and Conroy walked away, "Oh, hey! Bring up car 309!"

"Nobody kills anybody with their registered gun anymore," Warrick grumbled.

"Isn't that the truth," Conroy agreed.

* * *

><p>"Jim," Grissom greeted as he and Catherine met up with Brass in an expensive restaurant.<p>

"Hey. We got the whole place clocked. Keeping an eye on the Haynes couple. Sheriff doesn't want them skipping town," Brass explained.

"And neither do we. We have a strong suspicion Portia Richmond is dead," Grissom proclaimed.

With those words said, the three of them returned to watching Patrick and Amanda at the table. The two of them were just getting ready to leave. Amanda draped her coat over a stole on a chair so she could give a quick kiss to Patrick. Then…she picked up both her coat and someone else's, causing Catherine, Grissom and Brass to go on alert.

"Did you see that?" Catherine asked.

"They're on the grift," Grissom stated.

"She took that fur from right under their noses!" Catherine exclaimed.

The Haynes' turned the corner and ran into Brass, who was fully aware of what just transpired.

"Hi. May we check your coats?" Grissom asked.

* * *

><p>"What are you? A couple of kleptos?" Brass wanted to know.<p>

"I don't know," Patrick shrugged.

"A $5000 stole your wife stole? What, are you guys in business?" Brass questioned.

"Amanda didn't know she had even taken it till Mr Grissom here told her," Patrick defended.

"Is that kind of like the guy who, uh, walks out of the auto mall with a Nissan Sentra in his pocket?" Brass scoffed.

"Why am I here? Why?" Patrick demanded.

"Jim…may I?" Grissom requested, earning a nod from Brass, "My Haynes, we ran a sexual assault kit on Lacey Duvall. We found semen. Can you explain that?"

"Yeah. Yeah, my wife's not here. Time to convert lies into The Truth. I had sex with Lacey before the party," Patrick confessed.

"Would you mind giving us a DNA sample?" Grissom asked.

"No. My relationship with Lacey was purely sexual. It was good sex. Well…_great_ sex. Whenever we could steal a moment, uh, we did. Just like an addiction," Patrick explained.

"Well, in addition to exchanging bodily fluids, did you exchange gifts?" Catherine questioned.

"Whatever do you mean?" Patrick demanded.

"Just answer the question," Brass requested.

"No. No. I never gave her anything," he finally answered.

"We found a music box in Lacey Duvall's dressing area that belong to Portia Richmond. Did you give it to her?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Honestly…no. Those music boxes belong to Portia, not to me. But Lacey had been by the house and she did admire them," Patrick recalled.

"You saying that she lifted it?" Brass surmised.

"Human nature. We always cover what we can't have," Patrick shrugged.

"What did you covet from Portia Richmond?" Grissom finally dropped the bomb.

Patrick went to answer, an uncertain look crossing his face. Then…the door opened. Nick walked into the room out of breath.

"Grissom? Can I talk to you?" Nick asked.

Grissom tore his gaze away from Nick and glanced at Patrick who leaned back in his chair. Evidently, he was much more comfortable then he was five minutes ago before Nick walked in. Before Grissom left, he caught the smirk Patrick was giving him.

"Are you looking for work?" Grissom asked angrily as he slapped the interrogation door shut, "It's OK when Kadelin does it. But you?"

"I just," Nick went to explain.

"The sign says 'Do Not Enter', Nick! You can't read anymore? You're blind? What?" Grissom vented.

"Grissom, this is important!" Nick defended.

"This is important! Sometimes in interrogations, Nick, you get one chance! One answer! And while I'm out here screwing around with you, he's in there thinking up an answer that he didn't have before you walked in!" Grissom yelled.

"We matched the DNA taken from Lacey Duvall to a cold case in Texas ten years ago," Nick began.

"And…?" Grissom trailed off, nowhere closer to forgiving Nick than he was at the start.

"The suspect's name was Chad Matthews!" Nick dropped one of the bombs on him.

"C.M. The cuff link. OK. I'm starting to forgive you," Grissom sighed.

"Sara ran Patrick Haynes' social. The real Haynes is deceased. So Patrick Haynes is Chad Matthews and Chad Matthews is on the run," Nick dropped the final bomb.

"And he just ran into us," Grissom smirked.

* * *

><p>"Good morning. Nice to have you back," Brian greeted a man before turning to the approaching Grissom, "Do you have any idea what the hot topic of conversation is going to be when I walk into that breakfast?"<p>

"You're announcing your candidacy for Mayor?" Grissom joked.

"That's cute. Patrick Haynes is in custody. Does he have anything to do with Portia Richmond's vanishing act?" Brian asked.

"Haynes is in lockup awaiting extradition to Texas on an unrelated matter," Grissom corrected.

"So, in the meanwhile, we're questioning him in connection with Portia Richmond's disappearance," Brian decided.

"You know, I think you're going to get my vote for mayor," Grissom continued his joking.

"What have we got on Richmond?" Brian wanted to know.

"A canine," Grissom answered.

"Her dog," Brian assumed.

"Her tooth," Grissom corrected.

"What about the rest of her?" Brian pressed.

"Still looking," Grissom confessed.

"Well, look harder. 'Cause if someone leaks it to the press that she's dead and then she gets off a leer jet at McCarran with a tan, we're both going to have egg on our faces and I'm going to hold you responsible. Portia Richmond got me elected, Grissom. I was at her party. Do you see what this does to me?" Brian demanded.

"Evidence is like fine wine, Brian. You can't just open the bottle and drink it. You got to let it breathe," Grissom retorted.

"Look. I'm going to lay this on the line right here and now. You find me Portia Richmond or you find me a motive for her murder 'cause I'm in your kitchen till it's solved," Brian proclaimed as he walked away.

* * *

><p>"Make yourself at home," Grissom said as he walked into his office to see Brass looking through his microscope.<p>

"Where you been?" Brass asked.

"Proctologist," Grissom answered.

"Sheriff getting your ass, eh? Well, I just hit megabucks. Austin PD has five aliases for Chad Matthews," Brass announced as he read all of them, "Tom Sheridan. Wanted in Beacham County. Petty theft. Cheque fraud. Warner Drysdale. Wanted in Sacramento. Grand larceny. Car theft. Guy took a car for a test drive. Never brought it back. Jock Jasper – I'm not making these names up – extorted money from a rich widow in Denver."

"Busy boy," Grissom remarked.

"Yeah. And organized, too. The Denver PD sent me copies of his journal. Guy kept lists of rich women all around the country. Logged in all their vitals. Height, weight, how much money they have, you name it. Guess who was on that list," Brass challenged.

"Does her name begin with a P?" Grissom asked.

* * *

><p>"Well, according to her credit card statements, Portia Richmond hasn't spent a dime since she's been in the Mediterranean," Catherine stated as she, Nick, Sara and Kady (Nick swiped her from Greg) sat around the table in the layout room discussing the case.<p>

"She's dead," Sara reminded her.

"Oh, not necessarily. Maybe she's been…swept off her feet," Catherine shrugged.

"Yeah. Some guys still like to foot the bill," Nick piped in as he gently bounced Kady on his lap.

"Really? How would you know?" Sara asked.

"I was married once, remember?" Nick reminded her, "And I only go Dutch if girls ask the wrong question."

"And what question is that, Daddy?" Kady asked.

"What do you drive," Nick answered as he kissed Kady's temple.

"It's an honest question!" Sara defended.

"No. No, it's not. What it means is, 'How much money do you make so you can take care of me?'" Nick retorted.

"Well, not this girl," Sara smirked.

"Boys and girls, we've got ourselves a forgery," Catherine proclaimed as she held up a cancelled cheque with holes through the paper.

"Ooh. Either that or a dimpled ballot," Nick observed.

"Well, his name is Chad," Catherine pointed out.

"Hmmm…let's connect the dots," Nick suggested.

"What does that mean?" Sara asked.

"Here. I'll show you," Nick responded as he retrieved a pad and turned to Catherine, "Catherine, you wear pierced earrings. May I?"

"Alright. But…I've had them on for a week. Can't account for what's on it," Catherine warned as she handed an earring to Nick.

"Sign your name, please," Nick requested Sara.

"OK," Sara shrugged as she signed her name on the pad.

"Now, nobody signs their signature exactly the same way twice. Not even you, chicken scratch," Nick smirked at Sara, "If they do, then one of them's a forgery. Here's where connecting the dots comes in."

"Am I the only one who's worried about the fact that Nick's talking about forgeries with his four-year-old daughter on his lap?" Sara asked Catherine.

"She always sits in on these. But she never pays any attention to crime committing," Catherine reassured Sara, "Besides, Nick always makes sure she forgets how to do them."

"We dot the lines and curves of the signature," Nick went on as he poked holes along Sara's signature.

"Which leaves small indentations on the blank sheet. All you do now is connect the dots. Then get rid of the evidence," Catherine finished before adding, "But obviously, they didn't."

"Well, that's scary. All you need is one signature to break somebody," Sara said in shock as Nick began forging Sara's signature.

"Suddenly, a personal shredder sounds like a mighty find investment," Catherine remarked.

* * *

><p>The sounds of knocking on the door of the print lab caused Mandy to look up from her work. When she did, she saw Warrick standing in the doorway. Looking absolutely terrible. Like something was troubling him.<p>

"You look terrible," Mandy remarked as Warrick walked inside.

"I've been spinning my wheels. I'm never going to solve this case. It was over before it began," Warrick declared.

"That doesn't sound like you," Mandy observed.

"I got a dead man in a glass elevator with a bazillion prints and a .22 calibre bullet," Warrick recapped.

"That's virtually untraceable," Mandy stated the obvious.

"And he left the gun at the scene. You know what that means," Warrick said.

"Hit man was a ghost," Mandy voiced the meaning as Warrick sat down in front of her.

"But I've got two things left, right?" Warrick asked hopefully.

"Make that one thing," Mandy corrected.

"You gotta be kidding me," Warrick moaned.

"It gets worse. Got a print off your quarter. Ran it through AFIS. Came back your dead man," Mandy proclaimed as she pushed the results in front of Warrick for him to see.

_Begin flashback_

_It was a quick job. Something done fast enough so no one would be able to suspect anything. The mystery hit man walked in and shot Tyson dead. When he was done, he ditched the gun and the newspaper. He placed the quarter over the gunshot wound to the forehead and grabbed Tyson's wrist. He pressed the pad of Tyson's thumb against the coin, leaving no evidence to implicate him. Once the job was done, the mystery hit man left._

_Without looking back._

_End flashback_

"Pretty gruesome," Mandy remarked as Warrick pushed the results away and rubbed his eyes, showing his exhaustion, "Want to share?"

"I was just thinking what old man Binion told Steve Wynn when he hit town: 'Always give a gambler an excuse to gamble and he'll thank you for it,'" Warrick recited.

"Was your guy a gambler?" Mandy asked.

"A bunch of cash receipts in his pocket. Markers all over town. Once you get to that place, there's no getting out," Warrick answered.

* * *

><p>"Who picked this place?" Nick asked as he glanced over at Kady who was sitting next to him eating.<p>

"Me. I thought it would be nice," Catherine answered.

"OK. You can pick up the tab. Let's keep talking about motive," Warrick suggested.

"Let's. I don't think a forged signature is a slam dunk for murder," Catherine confessed.

"Where's Uncle Gil?" Kady suddenly asked.

"Yeah. Did anyone tell Grissom where we were having lunch?" Nick wanted to know.

"Yeah. Dispatch left a message," Sara answered.

"Maybe he thought it was the Sheriff and blew it off," Brass shrugged.

"Did dispatch mention that his goddaughter was involved?" Nick questioned as he pulled funny faces at Kady.

"I guess not. If they did, he'd be here in ten seconds flat. Wherever he is," Catherine pointed out as she tried not to laugh at Nick's funny faces.

* * *

><p>Grissom had a valid excuse to miss lunch with his co-workers and goddaughter. He was back at Portia's mansion. This time, he wasn't looking around inside. He was looking around outside. By the pool and lagoon, to be specific. Sometimes, to find the cause, people need to go back to the start. He walked up to the lagoon where the piranhas were lurking. He knelt down to get a closer look, which is when the Gardner walked up.<p>

"Hey! You might want to take your face away from there," he warned.

"Really? Why is that?" Grissom asked.

That was when he saw why. One of the piranhas broke through the surface. That was when Grissom got ideas.

* * *

><p>"This Chilean Sea bass is wonderful," Sara gushed.<p>

"So is this," Catherine and Kady agreed as they ate their food.

"OK. You got your missing widow. Her bloody tooth found in her own bedroom which is currently occupied by two moes," Sara listed what they had.

"Moes. I'm rubbing off on you," Brass boasted proudly as he stole some of Sara's sea bass.

"No you're not. And stay away from my sea bass!" Sara cried.

"Oh, that is good," Nick smiled happily, "One of our moes has six names that we know of. Including Chad Matthews."

"Right, right, and we've got a cuff link with the initials C.M. Found in the bottom of the pool along with a floating showgirl," Catherine went on.

"Who was sleeping with six men rolled into one: Patrick Haynes," Sara finished.

"Had I known that we would be talking about this stuff, I would have left Kady in the lab with Greg," Nick remarked.

"And have you become insufferable?" Sara retorted.

* * *

><p>"Hey," Grissom greeted as he walked into the autopsy room.<p>

"Hey. Photos of your showgirl," Doc Robbins responded as he handed the photos over.

Immediately, Grissom began looking through the photos. He was looking for something specific. Something that could potentially blow the whole case wide open.

"What did I miss?" Doc Robbins immediately asked.

"It's not what you missed. It's what seems to be missing," Grissom corrected as he counted the red welts…only to come up one shot, "A fingernail?"

* * *

><p>"OK. Patrick Haynes," Nick began as he drank his coffee while Brass wiped his mouth and Kady drank her juice to signify their finished lunch.<p>

"Or whoever," Brass piped in.

"Whoever. He commits a murder ten years ago. Why give up your DNA so easily?" Nick asked.

"Exactly. I mean, you know, you can change your name. You can't change your blueprint," Catherine pointed out.

"Right on!" Nick and Kady immediately agreed as they pumped their fists.

"Risk versus reward. You sleep with someone, you kill 'em, the heat's on. You flee, or, you roll the dice and maybe you get your cookie," Sara remarked.

"What's the cookie?" Nick asked.

"The cheese, brother. Maybe that 1.6 mil they raised at the charity event that night," Brass guessed.

"The Hayneses controlled Portia Richmond's bank account including the Burn Centre Account. But they had to stick around for the cheques to clear," Catherine pointed out.

"So why kill Lacey Duvall?" Sara wanted to know.

"Good question," Catherine complimented.

"I don't know. But if Lacey Duvall hadn't been murdered, Patrick Haynes reinvents himself, becomes another Skippy in another state, $1.6 mil richer," Brass stated.

"Wait, wait. Time out now. I had half a Caesar, some of Kady's fish and a coffee. How's my end 20 bucks?" Nick asked.

"You want to go Dutch, Nick?" Sara offered.

"Excellent idea, Sara. You're catching on. I'd love to," Nick responded as everyone (except Kady) threw their money into the pot at the centre of the table while Catherine examined the cheque.

"Uh, Brass, cough it up. Cover Nick's too. He had that tiramisu," Catherine requested.

"I hate going out to lunch with you CSIs. You notice everything," Brass groaned.

* * *

><p>"Hey. Whatever happened to the fingernail that Catherine found at the crime scene?" Grissom asked Greg as he walked into the DNA Lab.<p>

"Got the results right here," Greg answered as he showed the results to Grissom, "First things first. Not a match to Patrick Haynes."

"I never figured a man for the fingernail, Greg," Grissom said dryly.

"OK. But here's where you break out the can of creep repellent and sprinkle it all over Kady. The fingernail and the semen share half the DNA markers in common," Greg announced.

"Possible first-degree relative?" Grissom guessed.

Greg nodded with a pleased expression on his face. Immediately, Grissom reached into his case. When he did, he took out a small evidence envelope and opened it to show Greg the evidence inside. He reaches for a tissue and used it to remove the straw. Showing him the tip with the lip-gloss stain.

"Do me a favour. Run this for me," Grissom requested.

"What is that? Lip-gloss? Whose?" Greg wanted to know.

"You tell me," was Grissom's response.

* * *

><p>Brass and Catherine were in the interrogation room of the police department with Patrick. Waiting patiently for someone to pull off a miracle. Then Grissom himself walked inside. He was holding something that was hidden by a cloth. Catherine grew curious and began looking at it. Hoping to use her investigative skills to identify it.<p>

"On behalf of the State of Nevada, my apologies. You've been cleared of all charges," Brass began.

"It took three of you to tell me that?" Patrick asked, amusement evident in his voice.

"But on behalf of the State of Texas, you're under arrested. You're being extradited for the murder or Lana Grimshaw," Brass finished.

"I slept with her. But I didn't kill her," Patrick defended.

"Huh. Just like with Lacey Duvall," Catherine scoffed.

"Absolutely," Patrick agreed.

That was when the interrogation was interrupted for a second time. However, this time, Amanda being escorted in by the officer interrupted it. If Patrick got busted, so did she.

"Now I see it," Grissom remarked.

"What? See what?" Patrick demanded.

"The family resemblance," Grissom answered casually, causing Catherine to look at them, "Donnie and Marie – brother and sister. I've got the DNA to prove it. Let me tell you what else I can prove. Your sister killed Lacey Duvall."

Patrick, at this point, had risen to his feet and began walking towards the guilty Amanda. However, it wasn't until Grissom said that Amanda killed Lacey did he truly look at her.

_Begin flashback_

_It was the night all of this had began. The night of the murder of Lacey Duvall. She was standing by the pool with Amanda. Arguing with her over the man they both love._

"_He told me he loves me. No more faking love. No more acts!" Lacey bragged to Amanda._

"_Is that what he told you? That's an act? It's as real as it gets," Amanda scoffed._

"_Patrick says you're small-time. You just don't have the stones to go big," Lacey tormented._

"_You don't know Patrick," Amanda shook her head._

"_You mean Chad?" Lacey corrected as she held up the cuff link, "He gave me this. You know what's next. It's my turn."_

_Amanda made a lunge to grab the cuff link. However, she missed and the cuff link fell from Lacey's grasp into the pool below. A catfight resulted between the two of them. It got ugly real fast. Amanda grabbed Lacey's throat and squeezed tightly, breaking a nail in the process. Lacey gasped for breath and fought against Amanda's grasp. But Amanda wouldn't let up. Instead, Lacey let out her last breath and Amanda threw her into the swimming pool. That was when everything started going downhill._

_For Patrick and Amanda, that is._

_End flashback_

"You're surprised? Look at your face. You never made a mistake until you met her," Amanda stated matter-of-factly.

"You killed Lacey because I told her about us?" Patrick barely whispered, hurt evident in his voice.

"I had no choice. We were partners. You can't grift me, Chad," Amanda reminded him.

"Uh…who wants to tell us about Portia Richmond?" Catherine asked.

"She's in Europe," Patrick answered, sticking to his story.

"On a yacht in Greece," Amanda added.

"Oh right. She's incommunicado," Brass recalled.

"Old Testament. The Book of Jonah; 'And now, the Lord arranged for a great fish to swallow up Jonah,'" Grissom recited as he removed the cloth from the container to reveal the piranha, "You know what's wrong with the piranha, though? They've got high cholesterol."

"Cholesterol is found in humans. Not fish. So how does a fish acquire human cholesterol?" Catherine questioned, causing Patrick to look into the fish and sat down.

"You want to fill in the blanks?" Grissom offered.

They could see it. Even Amanda, Grissom, Brass and Catherine and they weren't present. They saw Patrick call for Portia. They saw him bait her. They saw him hit her over the head. They saw him throw her body into the piranha for them to eat. They saw him become who he is today.

That – and Patrick's silence – was all they needed.

"You're both under arrest for the murder of Portia Richmond," Brass proclaimed.

* * *

><p>Warrick was back inside the Mediterranean Casino. But this time, there was no murder. Instead, he was returning the debt slips Tyson had collected before his death to the pit boss.<p>

"These belong to Tyson Green. Just came to let you know he won't be paying up," Warrick told him.

"What's he? Dead?" the pit boss asked.

"Yeah," Warrick responded.

Downstairs, they heard the sounds of a woman's screams of joy and victory. She won money. Her gambling had been successful. They could hear the beeps the machine was emitting. They could hear the sounds of the silver spitting out. Warrick, being a former gambler, felt the itch.

"It's machine 25 again. Been spitting silver all day. It's a good day to gamble," he said before walking away.

Warrick walked down onto the main floor towards the machines, lost in his own thoughts. Saying that he didn't feel the itch to try his luck was a lie. He felt that goddamn itch. That itch was an itch he wanted to scratch so bad.

But was it worth it?

"_Vegas, NFL football, a guy like you. Come on. You trying to tell me that you didn't make a little pit stop?_"

"_What you do on your time is nobody's business. What you do on my time is my business._"

"_Warrick Brown had one of my guys sub for him in court. But I have it on good authority that he was gambling._"

"_Warrick has a problem. Ignoring it isn't going to make it go away._"

"_I won't let you down again._"

* * *

><p><strong>Whoa! Six months since an update? I'm sorry, everyone! Writer's block's been a bitch and I kinda lost interest for a while. But I've got my mood back now. Everything's good.<strong>

**BYE!**


	17. Too Tough to Die

**Too Tough to Die: A woman is abducted from a parking garage, raped, fatally shot in the head and left for dead on a highway. Grissom, Sara and Nick are the leads in the case. Sara finds herself getting emotional involved in the case as she becomes obsessed with identifying their latest Jane Doe and catching the perpetrator, causing Grissom and Nick to worry about her. Meanwhile, a Day Shift CSI has quit and Catherine and Warrick have to take over one of his cases: a neighbour's disbute over a motorcycle that eventually lead to an incident where one neighbour shot the other in the torso, thus killing him. However, one important piece of evidence has mysteriously disappeared and the case is due to go to court in just four days.**

**Next, Face Lift: A robber trying to break into the safe at a pottery shop in the desert is surprised and killed. As Grissom, Catherine and Nick work the leads in the case, they discover a set of fingerprints that belong to a four-year-old girl who was kidnapped 21 years ago. In another case, a woman was incinerated sleeping on her easy chair. And as Warrick and Sara work the case, Sara begins to suspect that the death of their latest victim is due to spontaneous human combustion.**

**Then, $35K O.B.O: An attempted carjacking leads to a double homicide in a rain-soaked crime scene with only one witness. But the case becomes even more complicated for the CSIs when they find the car which becomes another crime scene. Meanwhile, three senior citizens are killed when an apartment building suddenly collapses and Catherine has to figure out how it all happened.**

**Later, Gentle, Gentle: The infant child of a rich family is kidnapped in the middle of the night, causing Grissom and his team to launch an investigation. However, the evidence reveals not much about the kidnapping but that the family is hiding something, which will potentially cause the case to take a darker turn.**

**Followed by, Sounds of Silence: A deaf man was killed then run over by a car, leaving Grissom, Sara and Warrick to figure out what happened leading up to his death and who killed him. The case also reveals a secret about Grissom. Catherine and Nick are in charge of an apparent mob hit in the coffee shop that resulted in the deaths of five people.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Justice Is Served  
><strong>**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>Night has turned Las Vegas into a pitch-black playground. The animals were coming out and heading to the casinos and clubs. Except for some people whom are either returning to work or leaving work.<p>

A black woman well-dressed walked out of the elevator and approached her car in the parking lot. She was exhausted after her day of work in the Citrus Canyon Mall and is looking forward to going home to spend time with her family and to sleep as she disabled the car alarm and approached her car. But little did she know…

That she wouldn't be able to.

She let out a scream as someone stuck his gun into her back between her shoulder blades. Before she could even begin to comprehend what was going to happen to her, she was pushed against the car window and couldn't see the face of her attacker.

"Give me your keys and get in the car," he instructed.

* * *

><p>No one knew how much time has passed since the woman was attacked in the parking lot. However, something everyone knew that she ended up on the side of a highway left for dead. And she would be dead too, if it weren't for the couple noticing her as it began to rain.<p>

"What is that?" Rosalyn Dudek asked as the front lights hit the body.

Immediately, Rosalyn and her husband, Hank, pulled over so they could check on her. The couple were good Samaritans. So they weren't about to leave her for dead like her attacker. Slowly, they approached her. They weren't going to leave her. But they didn't know what to expect.

"Is that a body?" Hank pondered.

His question was disproven as the woman moved and let out a weak moan in pain. Rosalyn and Hank immediately jumped back in surprise. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. There was this woman lying on the side of the road with her blouse undone and gunshot wounds to the head. She should be dead by now. Instead, she's…

"Oh my God! She's alive!" Rosalyn gasped.

* * *

><p>The CSI Tahoe pulled up at the site moments later. The crime scene was an open desert highway. They needed to act quickly if they were going to gather the evidence before it was lost in the evidence. Sara, Grissom and Nick were the CSIs that responded to the case. Naturally, since Nick was responding to the scene, Kady went along with him.<p>

"Hey," Sara greeted Brass.

"Hey, kiddo," Brass smiled as he settled Kady on his hip with a playful grunt, causing her to giggle happily, "Did you have a growth spurt recently?"

"Please don't remind me," Nick moaned, causing Sara to chuckle at the expense of the single father.

"Here's what we know so far. Victim was a well-dressed woman. Young. Black. She's at Desert Palm Hospital. Multiple gunshots to the head. Possible sexual assault. Doctor has her as 'death imminent'," Brass explained.

"Sara, I'm going to need you to go to the hospital. Process the victim. Sexual assault kit, hairs, fibres; the works," Grissom instructed.

"Right now? I thought I would help you two with the scene!" Sara protested.

"The evidence won't stay on the body long at the E.R," Grissom reminded her.

"Walk in the park, guys," Sara sighed as she approached Brass, "But I get to take Kady."

"I just got her!" Brass whined.

"She likes to run off," Nick reminded him as he took Kady into his arms and gave her butterfly and Eskimo kisses before handing her to Sara, "Love you, butterfly."

"Love you too, daddy," Kady responded as she waved bye while Sara walked away with her in her arms.

When Kady was out of sight, Nick and Grissom began processing the crime scene. Particularly, where the couple found the body.

"It looks like a high heel print. Maybe abducted," Nick observed as he took photos of the shoe prints, "Did she know the guy? Did he use his car or hers?"

"Locard's principle. He took a piece of her away with him and he left a piece of himself here. We get to find it," Grissom smirked.

Insert title credits here

"Thank you, my sherpas," Grissom thanked as he, Catherine and Warrick walked into the lab carrying evidence boxes.

"Surely," Catherine responded as they placed the boxes on the table and Catherine and Warrick turned to Grissom, "So you got our assignments?"

"You're looking at it. Murder case," Grissom proclaimed.

"This mess?" Catherine immediately began to protest as she gestured to the mess, "You're not serious!"

"DA is. Guy named McCall shot and killed his neighbour over a motorcycle. DA can't make heads or tails of the evidence for the preliminary hearing," Grissom explained.

"Where's McCall now? He's being held?" Warrick asked.

"He ran from the arresting officers so the Judge refused him bail," Grissom answered.

"And why isn't the case CSI dealing with this?" Catherine questioned.

"Franovich from Days? He quit yesterday. Burnout," Grissom responded.

"And what did the DA charge?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Murder one. The case has changed hands so many times that the DA can't make any sense of it. It gets better. The prelim's in four days," Grissom announced, causing Catherine to drop the file in shock.

"Well, no pressure here," Catherine remarked sarcastically.

"Great," Warrick sighed before suddenly asking, "Man, where's Kadelin when you need her? She loves mysteries."

"Sara stole her from Brass who stole her from Nick. Expect him in a crabby mood," Catherine warned.

"Cath, can I see you outside for a sec?" Grissom interrupted, confusing Catherine greatly.

* * *

><p>"Why would my bank be asking you about my employment record?" Catherine demanded in frustration once Grissom had her outside and told her what was going on.<p>

"Well, technically, I'm your supervisor. They said that Eddie took a second mortgage out on your house. They said that you still own it together until the divorce is final," Grissom told her.

Catherine sighed before explaining, "We didn't want to sell it until the market went back up and then we were going to split the profits. I can't believe he took a second out on the house. How can he do that without my signature?"

"It's Eddie. I just thought you should know. I gotta get back out to Nick," Grissom said before leaving.

* * *

><p>"Hey," Sara and Kady greeted as they walk towards Detective Evans leaning against the door to a hospital room.<p>

"Hey, guys," Evans greeted as he ruffled Kady's hair affectionately.

"You get any I.D on her?" Sara asked.

"No. She's a Jane Doe. She's got two bullets lodged in her brain. Docs can't remove them without killing her," Evans explained.

"Alright," Sara nodded as they entered the room.

"Come in," the nurse nodded as she left the room.

"Hi," Sara and Kady chorused as the nurse closed the door to the emergency exam room.

"Thanks," Sara nodded as she begins examining and noticing the tan line on her finger, "Make a note she's married. Or recently divorced."

"She's warm," Kady said as she touched her hand.

"Feels different, huh?" Evans asked.

Suddenly, Sara scooped Kady up and sat her on the chair that was nearby. Then she took the blindfold all the CSIs have in their kits for when Kady comes along and tied it over her eyes behind her head before kissing her forehead. Evans had seen them do this to Kady before. But…he still didn't get the message.

"Uh, Evans…we're going to need a little privacy here," Sara said.

That was when Evans finally got what she was going to do to collect evidence from Jane Doe. Honestly, he couldn't leave the room fast enough. He went outside and stood guard. Since the victim was still alive, there was always the chance that he could come back and finish the job.

Sara pushed the table forward and removed her jacket, revealing her orange ¾-sleeved shirt. After covering Kady with it, she placed the kit on the table and slid on some latex gloves. She removed a package off of the box containing her Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit. Then she sat in the chair next to Kady and began scraping under her fingernails into a yellow envelope. Once she had collected the substances underneath her nails, Sara swabbed her mouth in the hopes of using her DNA to identify her latest Jane Doe.

Now Sara got to the main part of a possible rape case. Collecting evidence from the lower area. In a woman's yearly exam, this was the part they always dreaded. Because they want that area to be kept private. Sara stood at the foot of the bed and rolled the blanket upwards until it was above her knees. Then she positioned her legs: wide apart and slightly bent at the knees. Then she reached for the speculum that was nearby.

"I never really liked this part of my yearly exam. These things are always freezing," Sara chuckled as she breathed some warm air onto the speculum, "OK.

She placed the instrument in position and reached for a swab to collect the evidence. The entire time, her eyes flickered between her work, her blindfolded goddaughter…

And the Jane Doe.

* * *

><p>"Cartridge casings," Nick observed as he snapped photos of the casings, "They don't look like hunters' either."<p>

Grissom was examining the area while Nick took photos and marked where the evidence was found as per CSI procedure. That was when he noticed something there. Something that could potentially blow this case wide open.

A piece of denim hidden by a rock.

"Nick, get a shot of this," Grissom requested as he removed the rock, "Looks like a belt loop."

"It couldn't have been there long. No elements," Nick pointed out as he took a photo.

"Brass, was the victim wearing denim?" Grissom asked.

"Silk or lace. Something like that. Definitely not denim," Brass answered as Nick took another photo.

"Good chance this is our suspect's. I'm going to use scent pads," Grissom proclaimed as he stood up, causing Nick to stand up and look at Brass in confusion.

"Scent pads?" Nick repeated.

"Canine voodoo," was all Brass said.

"A dog's sense of smell is about 40 times more acute than a human's. A dog's nose is packed with dense rolls of membranes that absorb oder. Stretched out, these membranes extend about a third the length of a dog's body. The membranes of the human nose is about the size of a postage stamp," Grissom explained as he set up the Sirchie scent pad machine.

"Looks like a giant dust buster," Nick remarked.

"Similar," Grissom corrected as he and Nick walked over to the denim with the machine ready to go, "You place absorbent pads into the chamber then run the machine over the suspected item. Then you take the pad, seal it in an envelope and freeze it."

"Yeah, yeah. Then we pull them out when we know enough about this denim guy to find a proximal location," Nick added.

"Except there's a caveat," Grissom said as he turned the machine on and held it over the small piece of denim to collect the scent.

"You want to explain that caveat?" Brass asked.

"Later," Grissom promised, "Hopefully, Sara's making some progress."

* * *

><p>"Hey. Are you going to ignore my question?" Warrick asked Catherine.<p>

"I called Eddie about the loan. I got his voicemail. The guy's like ether," Catherine answered, "You going to answer my question?"

"Alright. Here's what we know from the arresting officer," Warrick said as he read a new file, "Two 25-year-old guys Chuckie Hastings and Roy McCall, lifelong neighbors, one step up from a trailer park, got into a beef over a motorcycle in the owner's backyard."

"Alright. Here's McCall's statement…if you can believe a guy who's looking at murder," Catherine smirked, "McCall says he returned Hastings' motorcycle to him with the front end smashed up. They were standing in Hastings' backyard…"

_Begin flashback_

"_I told you I'd pay for it," Roy promised._

_"Yeah, you said that last time," Chuckie retorted._

"_Whatever," Roy scoffed as he turned away._

_"Yeah, whatever. You bastard!" Chuckie spat as he slapped Roy._

"_Hey, back off, man! Back off!" Roy warned as Hastings picked up the screwdriver._

"_You're going to pay for all of it," Chuckie proclaimed as he swung the screwdriver around._

_Roy cried out in pain and pushed him away as Chuckie swiped his arm with the sharp end. Angered beyond retribution, Roy glanced at the wound on his arm and grabbed his gun._

"_McCall defends himself with an automatic that was down his pants.__"_

_Roy pulled out the gun, aimed it at Chuckie and shot him twice in the torso, killing him instantly._

_End flashback_

"Alright. Now, Hastings' wife said that McCall shot Hastings in the back," Warrick stated as Catherine hummed in agreement, "And the coroner's report substantiates that."

"So what? McCall lied. He really said that Hastings came at him with a screwdriver so he can plead self-defence?" Catherine asked rhetorically.

"Well, we would need the screwdriver with McCall's blood on it to prove that now, wouldn't we?" Warrick pointed out as Catherine stood up.

"Alright. Which box?" Catherine asked.

"I have been through all these boxes twice. It's not there," Warrick announced, causing Catherine to look at him in disbelief.

"The evidence is lost? In a murder case?" Catherine practically screeched in disbelief.

"The gun is here. But there's no screwdriver. They even have crime scene photos of it. But no tests were run on it before it was misplaced," Warrick explained.

"So we know why Franovich left. He quit before we could fire his ass," Catherine grumbled.

"Right," Warrick agreed.

"So you know who the DA will blame for this?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah. The same people homicide'll blame," Warrick answered.

"Well, now that we've exhausted all of our options, let's start over," Catherine suggested.

* * *

><p>"So this lady's expected to die. Is that the story?" Bobby asked as he ran the cartridge through the database.<p>

"Somebody raped her, shot her and left her for dead," Grissom started.

"And left two cartridge casings behind for us," Nick finished before smirking, "Thank you very much."

"That kind of oversight tells you he's stupid," Bobby stated.

"Or true to form. People are usually meticulous in planning up to a murder. They rarely plan the aftermath," Grissom reminded them.

"Still, you'd think the bad guys would figure we'd eventually start a database on cartridge casings, huh?" Nick asked rhetorically before the computer bleeped to indicate two matches.

"Gentlemen, we've got ourselves a bull's eye," Bobby proclaimed.

"Well, well, well. Looks like this gun was used before in a case we've handled," Nick smirked, "North Vegas shooting.

"You gotta do a side-by-side comparison to be sure," Bobby reminded him.

"Well, listen. If you get a confirmation, page me. I gotta go see Sara and Kadelin," Grissom proclaimed before leaving.

* * *

><p>Sara finished the collection of evidence on Jane Doe's body and began piling the envelopes on the kit as well as removing the blindfold from Kady. But Kady remained sitting in the chair. She didn't want to accidentally contaminate any evidence. She had never done so before. But Nick had trained her well in what to do when he brings her to crime scenes. Considering he's been bringing her to scenes since she was born as long as they were safe.<p>

Now that the body was done, Sara needed to examine the clothing for evidence. However, when she scooped up the clothing, something fell out of the package and onto the floor. Sara didn't notice it until she heard the clink.

"What's that?" Kady asked.

Sara picked it up and looked at it under the lamp. Immediately, she recognized the person. Sitting next to Kady on the spare chair, she began to talk to both Jane Doe and Kady about her,

"This is Saint Catherine. She studied science. She was tough and very outspoken. Went against the Emperor himself. Chewed him out for persecuting Christians. Took him two or three tries to execute her. She never gave up. She was brave. You hold on to this."

Sara placed the medallion in Jane Doe's hand. She knew the chances of evidence being lost. And somehow, she knew that the medallion meant a great deal to her latest victim. Initially, she knew that she wouldn't be allowed to do this as it broke the rule that everything found on the victim becomes evidence. But she knew that it would be safe. Sara didn't notice Kady run into the arms of the recently arrived Grissom and that he listened to her lean closer to her Jane Doe and promise,

"This shouldn't have happened to you. But I promise I will find out who did this. I promise."

"Hey."

Sara turned in her seat and noticed that Grissom was standing in the doorway hugging Kady. Concern was evident on his face and Sara, inwardly, knew what he was going to say next. The two have known each other for a while and knew each other well. Better than they admit.

"Hey. Sexual assault kit's ready to process," Sara announced.

"How's it look?" Grissom asked as he hoisted Kady higher on his hip.

"We'll see," Sara answered before nodding and gathering her composure, "She's, um, breathing."

"She's evidence," Grissom reminded her.

"No she's not," Kady immediately protested while Sara ignored him and turned away from him.

"Sara?" Grissom started gently.

"Yeah?" Sara responded.

"If you try and catch two rabbits, you end up losing them both," Grissom warned.

Sara just stared at Grissom, unsure of how to respond to his statement. She knew he was right. Deep down, she knew what was going to happen if she let herself get emotionally attached. But…she also knew that she was going to stop at nothing to put her attacker behind bars. Then…she thought about what could happen if they can't find her attacker and never will. Initially, she would burn out.

She heard the sound of the door shutting as Grissom and Kady walked out of the hospital room. Sara was now left with her thoughts.

Was she going to risk burning out to put the bastard behind bars?

Hell yeah.

* * *

><p>Catherine and Warrick have decided to visit the Hastings' residence to question Chuckie's wife. They needed to hear what she thought about the whole thing and whether or not she witnessed anything that could implicate or exonerate Roy for Chuckie's murder. Around them, a dog barked to signify the arrival of strangers. Catherine knocked on the door and a woman covered in dirt and sweat answered.<p>

"Hi. Lauriane Hastings? We're with the Las Vegas Crime Lab," Catherine introduced herself and Warrick.

"Cops. I have talked to enough of you already," Lauriane responded roughly.

"Ma'am, we're not cops. We're crime scene investigators," Warrick corrected, "We've come to ask you a few questions about the day that your husband was killed. Maybe acquaint ourselves with the actual crime scene."

"Is this going to let Roy McCall out of jail which is where he belongs?" Lauriane asked.

"We're simply reviewing the evidence for the preliminary hearing," Catherine corrected.

That was enough to convince Lauriane to let them into the residence. She even lead them to the garage where Chuckie's motorcycle's kept. It was still wrecked from Roy's last ride. Obviously, she could barely afford to make ends meet so she couldn't afford to repair the bike.

"McCall was always borrowing this motorcycle and Chuckie was made at him 'cause he returned it wrecked again. He was yelling at him and out of the blue, McCall pulled his gun," Lauriane recalled.

"You were home?" Catherine assumed.

"Yes I was," Lauriane nodded.

"And you saw the shooting?" Catherine guessed.

"I most certainly did. I was doing laundry here…," Lauriane started.

_Begin flashback_

_True to her word, Lauriane was standing in the garage by the washing machine doing laundry. Even the loud noises the machine emitted couldn't block out the sounds of angry voices. Multiple angry voices. Immediately, she knew that Roy and Chuckie were at it again._

"_GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!"_

"_I'M SO SICK OF YOU, MAN!"_

"_WHATEVER!"_

"_I went to see and try to break it up.__"_

_Lauriane walked away from the washing machine and out of the house altogether. She saw Chuckie and Roy shoving each other around the backyard. She also saw the bike and just knew. Roy borrowed the bike and returned it wrecked for the second time in a row._

"_Back off, man. Back off," Chuckie warned as he turned around to walk towards his wife, "Get your sorry ass off my property."_

_That was when Roy grabbed his gun and shot Chuckie twice in the back, causing him to fall down dead. Lauriane started screaming in pain, grief and pure hatred at Roy._

_End flashback_

"Out back here?" Warrick asked, wanting to double check.

"Yes," Lauriane nodded, causing Warrick to walk outside.

"How long did you say they had been arguing before you heard the first shot?" Catherine questioned.

"Couple minutes," Lauriane shrugged.

"And then you went out back?" Catherine guessed.

"That's right," Lauriane agreed.

"OK. Thank you. This won't take very long," Catherine reassured her.

That was when she reached into her pocket and took out the stopwatch she has with her. After hitting the button to start the timer, Catherine ran out of the door and into the backyard. Warrick noticed her immediately and suspected something was up.

"What's up?" Warrick asked as Catherine stopped the timer.

"She did a fill-in back there in the garage. First, she said she saw both shots. But I just asked her and she said that she heard the first shot and then came running out here," Catherine explained.

"Heard the first shot and then came running out here," Warrick repeated.

"Yeah," Catherine nodded.

"McCall had a semiautomatic. I mean, you could pull off a shot in two-tenths of a second," Warrick recalled.

"Right. It took me 3.8 seconds to get out here," Catherine revealed before proclaiming, "She didn't see any shot."

"So she just filled in what she thought happened – that McCall shot her husband in cold blood," Warrick realized.

"Right," Catherine agreed.

"Typical eyewitness," Warrick grumbled.

"So there's a good chance that McCall was telling the truth – that he shot Hastings in self-defence," Catherine stated.

"Well, if we had that screwdriver that someone lost…," Warrick trailed off.

"Right," Catherine nodded.

"We'd be able to check for blood," Warrick finished his earlier sentence.

"Right. Let's go see McCall. No one lost him," Catherine remarked as they went to leave.

* * *

><p>"Hey, you guys. This North Vegas shooting with the same casings as our Jane Doe's?" Nick started, earning a hum from Grissom as an invitation to continue, "It was gang-related. And homicide never found the shooter."<p>

"Why's that?" Kady asked from the couch with her colouring book.

"It's almost impossible in gang neighbourhoods. Nobody wants to talk. People are afraid. Listen. Let's see if we have any evidence that's not attributed to the victim," Grissom suggested.

Immediately, they began looking through the paper bags they had sitting before them. They needed to explore every possible angle to potentially solve the case. After a few moments, Sara found something. A black cap with a snack logo sewn on the front. Immediately, Sara knew that their Jane Doe would never wear something like this.

"Here you go," Sara said as she showed the cap.

"Snakebacks," Nick said.

"Gang shooters mark their kills by tossing down their hats. Some sort of anthropological quirk of territoriality. Like cats spraying bush on a bush," Grissom explained, causing Nick to laugh.

"Lets the opposition know who was responsible," Nick suggested.

"Somebody wore this hat a lot," Sara observed as she noticed the sweat-soaked sweatband in the hat, "This sweatband might give us DNA and I could compare it to the samples I collected off of Jane at the hospital."

"Jane?" Grissom repeated as he looked at Sara with a surprised expression.

"Uh-oh," Kady whispered.

"Our…Jane Doe. My death imminent," Sara immediately covered her mistake.

"First-name basis, Sara?" Nick asked, worry filling his voice rather than a teasing tone.

"I'll be in DNA," Sara proclaimed as she stormed out of the room.

"Butterfly, is Sara alright?" Nick asked Kady, earning a shrug from his four-year-old daughter.

"She's sad," Kady answered.

"She's taking it personally," Grissom corrected with a sigh.

* * *

><p>"Hey. This is, uh, Detective Sam Vega from the gang detail. He's here to give us information on 23rd street. This is Gil Grissom and Nick Stokes from the Crime Lab," Brass introduced everyone as they shook hands.<p>

"We're looking for a shooter. Guy abducted, raped and shot a young black woman the other night," Grissom told him.

"We get a couple of shootings a week here from the Snakebacks out of a four-block radius from this point here. Usually at the Pepper Street gang. Your guy might have left the neighbourhood as part of a gang initiation. It means more when the victim's a civilian," Sam explained.

"Our ball cap belongs to somebody in this neighbourhood. These houses are full of people who know the guy who wears it," Nick told him.

"OK, Nick. Ready to burn some shoe leather? Some old-fashioned police work? What do you say, huh?" Brass smirked as he began leading the way.

"Why can't we just use those scent pads?" Nick asked.

"The dogs? Constitutional issue. We can't get a warrant for the evidence we find off the dogs' search," Grissom answered.

"Great, great. Why'd you even suggest it?" Nick demanded.

"You're a grown man, Nick. Not a four-year-old. Stop whining," Grissom reprimanded.

* * *

><p>"Mr, McCall, according to your statement, you went over to your neighbour Hastings' house to return his motorcycle. You got into a dispute over a wrecked fender and he attacked you with a screwdriver," Warrick recalled.<p>

Roy, unsure of how to answer the question, turned to face his lawyer, Margaret Finn. Immediately, she nodded at him. She was willing to do whatever it takes to clear his name. After all, that's what she does.

"He stabbed me in the arm," Roy revealed.

"Can you circle the area in which the screwdriver entered your arm when Hastings attacked you?" Catherine requested as she handed over a pen and paper.

Roy picked up the pen with his right hand – indicating that he is, indeed, right-handed – and circled the area on his arm an inch or two below his shoulder. He placed the pen on top of the paper and pushed the clipboard towards Catherine.

"May I exam your client's wound?" Catherine asked.

"Yes. Anything to clear my client," Margaret answered.

Catherine stood up and approached Roy as he rolled up his sleeve to reveal the mark on his arm. It was light pink against his skin and swollen slightly. The angle told Catherine everything she needed to know.

Even if they didn't have the weapon.

"Thanks," Catherine muttered as Roy and Margaret began talking to each other while she turned to Warrick, "I think he's telling the truth. He's right-handed. I could tell when he took the pen."

"So you're saying that if he'd inflicted the wound on himself, he would have stabbed his left arm," Warrick realized.

"And even if he'd tried to fool us and stabbed his right arm, the entry scar would have been upward. Not down," Catherine added.

"Mr McCall, which direction was Hastings facing when you shot him?" Warrick asked.

"He was facing my client. End of story," Margaret immediately responded.

"Well, the coroner disagrees," Catherine stated.

"Well, that's the coroner's problem. And after I tell any jury how your side managed to lose a piece of evidence as important as the screwdriver, really. How much weight will the coroner's findings have?" Margaret retorted as she gathered her things.

* * *

><p>"People don't realize just how many sets of hands a piece of evidence passes through. Losing evidence isn't about anything sneaky. It's just human error," Catherine stated as her phone began to rang.<p>

"Defence attorneys have made a whole career off that human error," Warrick reminded her.

"Yeah tell me about it," Catherine remarked as she answered her phone, "Hello, Eddie…," Catherine turned to Warrick and saying, "I'll meet you at the coroner's," before turning to her phone, "So you took a second out on the house and, uh, didn't tell me about it? No. I would have remembered you telling me something as big as… Oh, a studio. Are you out of your mind? So, now I'm going to be making house payments which you never had money for when we lived together and a second mortgage? No. We don't have time to talk about this. You get that loan canceled and you do it now, Ed! NOW!"

* * *

><p>"Doc, are you sure McCall shot Hastings in the back?" Warrick asked.<p>

"Back to front, both times," Doc Robbins answered.

"This guy McCall swears that he shot him straight ahead in self-defence," Warrick protested.

"Look at my notes," Doc Robbins said as they walked over to the desk where the file is, "Right here. Entry wounds piecing the back. Both small Regular with evidence of carbonaceous material typical of having just emerged from a gun."

"Right," Warrick nodded.

"And they exited out the front with a classic keyhole effect – irregular. First bullet enters Hastings' lattissimus dorsi. Passed through the lower intestine. Exited out the intercostal muscle. The second bullet passed through Hastings' C-7 thoracic nerve. Exited out the pectoralis major."

"Alright, look. I'm not doubting your findings. But when guys go at it, they're not like gingerbread men, you know? They're, like, bobbing and weaving. It's like W.F.F Smackdown. You know? All of these things could have changed what went down when Hastings and McCall tangled," Warrick pointed out.

"Anatomically speaking, it's open and shut. You guys are the ones to put perspective on it," Doc Robbins said.

"No doubt. When Catherine gets here, can you tell her I went over to evidence to check out the victim's t-shirt?" Warrick requested, earning a hum from the doctor as he left.

* * *

><p>Sara sat in front of the computer going through every name in the Missing Persons List. She was hoping to identify the Jane Doe in hospital so she could notify her family. They needed to know. She looked at when they disappeared, what they look like and any other information about them. She needed to get a match based on that information so they didn't identify her as the wrong person. Softly, she hummed a song that has been stuck in her head for a while. Grissom stopped at the doorway when he noticed what she was doing.<p>

"Hey," he greeted as he stepped into the room.

"Any luck on 23rd street?" Sara asked without looking up from the computer.

"I, uh, broke in my new shoes. That's about it," Grissom laughed slightly, "What'd the lab say?"

"The DNA from the ball cap is a match to the semen we found on our Jane Doe. But…CODIS hasn't kicked out a name," Sara answered.

"So you're just…looking at Missing Persons reports?" Grissom surmised as he glanced at what she was doing.

"We're not having any luck finding his shooter from his DNA with a belt loop. So I thought I would at least try and identify the poor woman before she dies," Sara retorted.

"Sara, do you have any diversions?" Grissom asked suddenly.

"Do I what?" Sara demanded.

"You max out on overtime every month. You go home and listen to your police scanner. You read forensic textbooks," Grissom pointed out.

"Yeah," Sara muttered as she resumed her work while Grissom sat next to her.

"Look. Everyday, we meet people on the worst day of their lives. It's a lot to deal with. Everyone who's had any time on this job knows that you have to have a diversion in order to cope with what we see. What do you do for fun?" Grissom asked again.

"I chase rabbits. And I read crime books. And I listen to the scanner," Sara answered, not phased by the questioning.

"You need something out of law enforcement. Catherine has Lindsey. Nick has Kadelin. I sometimes…ride roller coasters," Grissom confessed, earning a look from Sara, "What do you do?"

"Nothing," Sara responded as she turned back to her work.

"OK. What do you like?" Grissom sighed.

"I don't like anything," Sara snapped.

"You've got to find something to like. You can't get too close to the victims," Grissom told her.

"She's special to me. I can't help it!" Sara defended.

"If you don't find something, they'll all become special and you'll burn out," Grissom warned.

For a moment, Sara stopped looking at the list. She wasn't going to admit this to Grissom. But…he was right. This wasn't good for her. Especially with her history of depression. She needed to stop before she found herself too deep and ended up doing something she'll regret. Grissom stood up and went to leave. But when he reached the doorway, he turned around. He needed to remind her.

"Sara," Grissom began.

"OK. I'm almost done. I just got to log off," Sara promised.

* * *

><p>"Well, this is progress," Catherine remarked as she and Warrick examined the shirt in the layout room, "The shirt confirms what the coroner said: that the shots were fired back to front. Look at those entry holes."<p>

"Yeah. But look at that gunpowder. Unburned gunpowder," Warrick observed.

"Which happens when a gun is fired less than three feet from a victim," Catherine realized.

"Right," Warrick agreed.

"McCall says that they were standing five paces apart," Catherine recalled as she opened a file, "Mrs Hastings says the exact same thing. So we have two eyewitnesses on opposite sides of the case…saying the same thing."

"In direct contradiction to our evidence," Warrick sighed.

"Well, the DA's on my beeper. Would you, uh, explain this to him because I can't," Catherine pleaded.

"Yeah, right," Warrick muttered as Catherine went to the door and Warrick followed her, "Hey. When's the last time you took target practice?"

"Figures. I just had a manicure," Catherine grumbled.

* * *

><p>"OK. So we're doing this reconstruction and the best way is to measure the distance between the victim and the assailant during the time of the altercation, right?" Warrick asked.<p>

"Right," Catherine nodded as she snapped the gun chamber shut, "Using the same firearm and ammo that McCall used in his backyard on Hastings."

"Right," Warrick agreed.

Catherine and Warrick put on the headgear and Catherine checks the gun. She places the gun in the holder and shoots at the target shirt that reads 'six inches'. Warrick moved the gun across to the second target shirt that read 'one foot'. Catherine fired at that and they did two final targets: a foot and a half and two feet. They took off their headgear and compared the actual shirt to the targets shirts.

"Circumference of the gunpowder is the same. Looks like two feet for shot number one…," Warrick trailed off as he moved to another target, "And one foot for shot number two."

"And according to Lauriane Hastings' statement, he was running away. How can the second shot be closer than the first?" Catherine asked.

"It can't. It's not possible. We just disproved their statement," Warrick proclaimed.

"And then we've got McCall's statement," Catherine sighed as she recalled his statement, "Can't happen when someone's facing you."

"The truth is somewhere in the middle. How long do we have till the prelim?" Warrick suddenly asked.

"I think I know how we can figure this out. I saw this thing in my forensics catalogue," Catherine started.

"What kind of thing?" Warrick demanded.

* * *

><p>"Now you want to use the dogs to track down the Jane Doe shooter?" Nick asked Grissom as they walked down the hallway.<p>

"K-9 unit's gonna meet us there," Grissom answered.

"Yeah, but I spoke to Brass. He said we can't get a warrant on anything we need from the suspect's house – gun, jeans, nothing," Nick pointed out.

"That's if we find him inside his house," Grissom retorted, "In which case, we'll figure out another way to get a warrant."

"You're rushing this for Sara," Nick accused.

"My priority is the case, Nick," Grissom corrected, "Release the hounds."

Sara lied when she said that she was going to take a break with identifying their latest Jane Doe. She never logged off. She spent the entire night going through the missing persons' reports. Even someone who didn't work in law enforcement would have to look at the numerous coffee cups surrounding her on the desk. Without removing her eyes from the monitor, she used her teeth to rip open a packet of sugar and pour the contents into the coffee cup without missing. Then she stirred the cup and held it in her hands – savouring the warmth emitting from the Styrofoam cup. She sighed as she continued reading…

Until she reached something familiar.

_MISSING PERSON_

_Pamela Adler: 26-Year-Old Black Female._

_Missing Since 1730 Tuesday._

_Wearing Lavender Business Suit._

_Reported Missing by Thomas Adler, Husband._

_Last Seen at Las Vegas Shopping._

_Car 1992 Acura Legend._

_LA 360-RYD_

"You were shopping," Sara sighed before finally reading the name aloud, "Pamela. Pamela Adler."

* * *

><p>Nick and Grissom found themselves back in the neighbourhood of the Snakebacks gang. This time, they had the K-9 unit with them, which consisted of one officer and two scent dogs. He approached the two CSIs who were standing at the back of the car retrieving the scent pad.<p>

"Here we go. Come on," he encouraged.

"Hey, lady. You ready for a scent pad?" Grissom cooed as he let the dogs smell the scent pad, "Breathe deep, girls."

"Here we go!" the officer yelled as the dogs took off.

"WHOA!" Nick cried as he turned to Grissom, "Are we supposed to be able to keep up with those guys?"

"Yeah!" Grissom answered before smirking, "What would you do if that was Kadelin taking off?"

That did the trick. In lighting reflexes, Nick had thrown off his latex gloves and taken off sprinting. It brought back memories of the first time that he nearly lost his daughter. At two weeks old. His actions echoed that one time Greg conducted a dangerous experiment with her in the room. And honestly…

He didn't want to relive that.

"Here we go. Come on. Come on. Good girl," the officer encouraged.

Grissom and Nick eventually managed to catch up with the officer and the two scent dogs. They followed them to a particular house. They saw a young black man – Tony Thorpe – on the driveway playing basketball. The dogs ran up to him, causing him to freak out.

"Hey, hey, yo, yo. Back off, snoop. What'd you raggedy mutts want with me anyway?" Tony demanded before yelling at Nick who was approaching, "Hey, you two! Don't be hassling me!"

Nick removed the glasses he wears on occasions when he noticed something very peculiar. Tony was wearing light blue denim jeans. And there was a belt loop missing.

"Guy's wearing the evidence in plain sight. We just got lucky," Nick smirked to Grissom who just caught up.

"Tony!" Tony's mother – Shandra Thorpe – called as she slammed the front door and ran out, "What are you doing? You got a problem?"

"Ma'am, is this your son?" Grissom asked.

"Yes," Shandra nodded.

"Well, we're gonna have to talk to him for a minute," Grissom told her.

"You police – coming here with your attack dogs," Shandra grumbled.

"Actually, they're scent dogs and I'm not a police officer. I'm a Forensic Scientist with the Las Vegas Police Department," Grissom corrected.

"What do I got to say to a scientist?" Shandra scoffed.

"You could say hello," Grissom shrugged.

* * *

><p>"This dummy cost over $500?" Warrick exclaimed in disbelief as Catherine began setting up.<p>

"Oh yeah. He's worth it," Catherine nodded eagerly as she grabbed the two sticks and approached the dummy.

"Why?" Warrick asked.

"Well, look at him. He's lifelike, he doesn't talk and he's self-healing," Catherine boasted.

"He's self-healing?" Warrick repeated.

"Yeah. We make a mistake in our calculations, we just start over," Catherine clarified as she slid the first stick into the dummy.

"Cool," Warrick complimented before saying, "Um, the wound track is off. Do it two centimetres higher."

"Alright," Catherine muttered as she did so, "How's that?"

"Good," Warrick responded.

"Alright," Catherine said as she slid the second stick.

"Now the second shot was fired like so. Now, the coroner says that Hastings was shot just like this. From back to front and Hastings' wife says the same thing – that her husband was running away," Warrick kicked things off.

"And McCall says that Hastings was facing him, shot him in self-defence and he's got the wound to prove it," Catherine continued as she positioned the right arm.

"Just like I said before, guys don't go at it and fight like gingerbread men, you know?" Warrick said, earning a hum from Catherine, "Check it out.

Catherine and Warrick swapped places. Warrick stood behind the dummy and Catherine stood by the table. Warrick bent the dummy at the waist and stood behind it. Catherine smirked excitedly as she quickly grabbed the camera and got ready to take the photo.

"What if, um…he was lunged…just kind of like this?" Warrick suggested.

Then he heard the familiar snap of the camera as the photo was taken and was printed. Warrick quickly turned around and saw Catherine waving the photo around in the air. Immediately, he knew what she did.

"Oh, you are wrong!" Warrick exclaimed to the laughing Catherine.

Suddenly, Catherine stopped laughing and continued to stare at the bent dummy. She could see it. She could see how the murder happened. She could see how it all met in the middle.

"Warrick?" Catherine trailed off as Warrick looked at the dummy, "I think maybe they were both telling the truth."

"Yeah. I'm calling the DA," Warrick proclaimed as he left the garage…taking the picture with him.

* * *

><p>Sara and Nick were in the observation room looking into the interrogation room as Grissom and Brass interviewed Tony with Shandra present since Tony is a minor and not allowed to be interviewed without either a parentlegal guardian or a Child Services advocate present. However, something that Sara didn't know was that the only reason Nick was in the observation room with her is to keep her out of the interrogation room with how close she had gotten to the case.

(**Brass**/_Tony_)

"**So, Tony, where were you two nights ago?**"

"_I was nowhere special. I was just hanging around._"

"Grissom told you to keep me out, didn't he?" Sara asked knowingly.

"Yeah," Nick nodded, maintaining his stance with his arms folded across his chest and watching the interrogation with interest.

* * *

><p>"Were you wearing those pants the other night?" Grissom asked.<p>

"Oh, these jeans? What's it to you?" Tony demanded.

"They're missing a belt loop," Grissom observed, "I find it interesting."

"You mind if we look at those?" Brass asked as he threw the scrubs to him across the table, "We got some scrubs for you to wear."

"I know the law. He doesn't have to do anything unless a judge says so," Shandra responded as she threw them back.

"That's why we're asking Tony to volunteer," Brass retorted as he threw the scrubs at Tony, "With your permission."

"Chill, mums. I got nothing to hide. It's no big thing. Cop said lady isn't even dead," Tony stated smugly as he removed his jeans, threw them at Grissom and replaced them with the scrubs.

"That's true. She isn't," Grissom agreed before adding, "But if she dies within a year and a day of the shooting, then it's murder."

"Is this some kind of trick?" Shandra asked.

"No, ma'am. It's the law. We're working this case as a murder," Brass told her.

"At least for the next year and a day. And even then, I'm still a juvie," Tony reminded them.

"Well, then I guess the law is on your side, Tony, isn't it? For now," Grissom smirked.

* * *

><p>Catherine and Warrick were walking in the hallway when they heard familiar laughing. When they rounded the corner, they saw Kady and Lindsey hugging each other as if they hadn't seen each other forever (when they only saw each other a few days ago)…with Eddie watching on happily.<p>

"Hi, Catherine," Eddie greeted, "Somebody wanted to see you."

"Hey, baby," Catherine smiled widely.

"Hi, mummy," Lindsey giggled as they shared a hug and told her excitedly, "Daddy's taking me to dinner tonight."

"He is?" Catherine asked, trying to hide her anger.

"Main room at the Orpheus," Eddie boasted.

"I've been there! It's so cool!" Kady gasped.

"They have lions and tigers at the restaurant and daddy said I can go to a show after!" Lindsey gushed excitedly as she hugged her four-year-old god sister tightly.

"Well, uh…you know, honey, it's a school night. So I need to discuss that with daddy first," Catherine told her, indicating that she wasn't sure about letting her go.

"Come on, mum. It's just this one night!" Lindsey pleaded her.

"Ed…," Catherine started as she stood up.

Warrick knew that this was going to get ugly real fast. It always did with Catherine and Eddie. Something that he also knew was that Catherine wouldn't want Lindsey and Kady to witness. Immediately, he knelt at the two girls and scooped them both up asking,

"Hey, girls. I got some games on my computer. You want to see?"

"Sure," they chorused.

"Let's play one," Warrick suggested as he carried them away.

"I'll see you in a bit, girls!" Catherine called before turning to Eddie, who was now standing, "You set me up. Again."

"How? By taking our daughter to dinner?" Eddie demanded.

"Get over here," Catherine sighed as she lead Eddie into the next hallway.

"Oh, come on now! What?" Eddie whined.

"You are so pathetic," Catherine taunted.

"What? What?" Eddie demanded.

"Just so pathetic," Catherine repeated.

"Watch it, Cath," Eddie warned.

"Sucking up to our daughter 'cause I caught you robbing me," Catherine accused.

"The only thing I ever robbed you of was good sex," Eddie smirked as he stepped closer.

"No sex is worth you!" Catherine scoffed, "And you are not taking my daughter to a club with one of your music whores."

"Oh, they're whores? When I met you, you were taking your clothes off in a strip club!" Eddie retorted, his voice raising a few octaves in the last part of the sentence.

"It was a job, Ed. And it supported you. Just like every job I've had. Including this one!" Catherine shot back.

At that moment, Grissom was turning the corner in the hallway and noticed the argument. Immediately, he knew that it was going to go south so he wanted to watch them closely. Catherine is one of his employees and his closest friend. And he wanted to protect her.

"Yeah? And who paid to close up your nose?" Eddie asked.

"You're such a pig!" Catherine snarled as she took a swing.

Eddie was too fast for her and managed to grab her hand before it could make contact. Immediately, he grabbed Catherine's free hand and pushed her against the glass wall.

"Let go of me," Catherine growled.

"I'll let you go when I'm damn good," Eddie murmured.

"LET GO OF HER, ED!" Grissom exclaimed as he roughly shoved him away, "Catherine?"

"Just get him out of here," Catherine sobbed as she walked away.

"I don't wanna ever see you in this building again. This is our place of business. You understand that?" Grissom demanded.

"I always knew you two had a thing," Eddie smirked.

"Go home, Eddie," Grissom threatened dangerously.

"Sure," Eddie nodded as he left.

* * *

><p>Nick was working on the jeans from their suspect to see if the belt loop originated from them. Sara was working on something else entirely different but still related to their current case. Quietly, she was singing to herself a song that has been stuck in her head for some time. What she didn't know was that Nick was listening to her.<p>

Sara: _One way or another, I'm gonna find ya.  
><em>_I'm gonna getcha, getcha, getcha, getcha.  
><em>_One way or another, I'm gonna win ya.  
><em>_I'm gonna getcha, getcha, getcha, getcha.  
><em>_One way or another, I'm gonna see ya.  
><em>_I'm gonna meetcha, meetcha, meetcha, meetcha.  
><em>_One day, maybe next week,  
><em>_I'm gonna meetcha. I'm gonna meetcha. I'll meetcha.  
><em>_I will drive past your house.  
><em>_And if the lights are all down,  
><em>_I'll see who's around…_

"Hey, Sara. Did anyone ever tell you you have a pretty good singing voice?" Nick asked.

"If you like chalk on a board," Sara retorted.

"Come on. I've heard you around here. People never tell you that?" Nick asked in disbelief.

"It's a habit. I don't even realize I'm doing it," Sara defended before changing the subject, "Did you get that belt loop from the crime scene lined up yet?"

"Yeah, yeah, take a look," Nick answered as he invited her over.

"Fits like a glove," Sara smiled as she matched the two together.

"OK. Let's go tell the boss," Nick suggested.

"You go. I have something to do first," Sara told him.

"Hey. If you go near that Thorpe kid," Nick began worriedly.

"Excuse me?" Sara demanded as she looked at Nick.

"I'm just saying," Nick trailed off.

"It's something else. Promise," Sara reassured him before leaving.

* * *

><p>"Wait a minute. Hastings was facing McCall and McCall shot him in the back? You can't have it both ways, guys. A judge would laugh me out of court," DA Sam Gentry scoffed.<p>

"Well, bear with us," Catherine pleaded as she and Warrick set up.

"Alright. I'm McCall. I have a gun," Warrick began.

"I'm Hastings. I stab McCall in the right arm," Catherine went on as she demonstrated with the dummy's arm.

"I push him back off," Warrick said.

"And Hastings charges again. This time, he lunges at his midsection," Catherine added as she bent the dummy.

"I shoot," Warrick told him.

"He shoots from two feet according to our firearms range test and the unburned powder on the victim's clothes," Catherine explained.

"And the bullet enters through the back even though we are facing each other and exits out the front," Warrick piped in.

"The first shot is fired in self-defence," Catherine said, "But then McCall shoots Hastings a second time. Now that shot was not in self-defence."

"Chalk it up to adrenaline or revenge. But Hastings was already going down. There was no reason to shoot him a second time," Warrick stated.

"I've got to say. I'm impressed. You two just put on quite a show. Think you can do it again at trial?" Sam asked.

"That's our job," Warrick nodded.

"We'll see you in court, Sam," Catherine said as he left.

"Hey, how's Linds?" Warrick asked.

"Um, well, uh, she's with my sister," Catherine answered, "Hey. Thanks for helping me out there."

"Right," Warrick nodded.

"I appreciate it. I…," Catherine trailed off, finding no words to express her gratitude.

"Catherine, you've got to get that divorce finalized, huh?" Warrick suggested as he left the garage with the dummy, leaving Catherine silent. Silent because she knew that he was right.

The sooner the divorce gets finalized, the better things will be for her and Lindsey.

* * *

><p>Sara walked into Pamela's hospital room. She wanted to tell Pamela the pleasant news. Although…she wasn't sure whether or not she would be able to hear her.<p>

"We caught him. If you hadn't pulled that belt loop, we might never have found him. But…you did good," Sara complimented.

In the darkened corner, a man with dark skin sat in the chair silently watching the exchange. Eventually, he stepped into the light with the desire to make his presence known.

"You must be Sara," he said, causing Sara to turn around, "The CSI who called me?"

"Hi," Sara greeted as they stood up and shook hands.

"I'm Tom. Uh…Pam's husband," Tom introduced himself, "Thanks, uh, for all you've done."

"Sure. Oh. I wanted to give you this," Sara revealed as she pulled out the medallion and hand it to him, "I've been keeping it…for Jane – Pam, uh, until I found her family."

"Thanks," he thanked as he looked at Pam.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"OK, uh…good. The doctor says Pammie's condition is stabilized. He was in an hour ago. He expects her to live. Says she's not gonna die," Tom told her, causing Sara to freeze.

"That's great. That's-that's great. She's a real fighter, huh?" Sara stuttered, hiding that she knows what it means.

"Well, we're moving her to Haven View Centre later this week. Do-do you know that facility?" Tom asked her.

Sara knew that facility very well. She knew victims that have winded up in that facility. Where they remained in a vegetative state for the rest of their lives. Pam was going to be the same way. That she knew.

"Yeah. I do. I know people who've gone there. They'll take real good care of her," Sara reassured him.

"Yeah. That's what the doctor said," Tom said as he tried his best not to breakdown.

"I gotta go," Sara blurted as she went to leave.

"Well, um, uh…come see us sometime," Tom pleaded her.

"Definitely. Haven View. I'll be there," Sara promised, earning a nod from Tom, "Good luck."

"Good luck to you," Tom replied as she left.

* * *

><p>"The husband doesn't get it," Sara sobbed to Grissom as she sat across the desk from him, "He's so happy that she's gonna live. He doesn't realize she's gonna be in a vegetative state for the rest of her life. And that kid Thorpe is going to be out of juvie in 48 months. It's not fair."<p>

"It's the system," Grissom sighed.

"What kind of system rewards the suspect when the victim is too tough to die?" Sara demanded.

Grissom remained silent. He didn't know how to answer the harsh question Sara posed to him. There are times where he would wonder the same things and question the system like Sara is. There are times where the system can be unfair. Pamela is never going to regain her former life. Tony Thorpe will regain his after he's released from juvenile detention in four years time. Yet…Grissom knew this as well.

"Sara," Grissom began, stopping Sara's move to leave his office, "You got to learn to let this go. Or you're going to spend all your time in hospitals trying to help those you couldn't save."

"I wish I was like you, Grissom. I wish I didn't feel anything," Sara said.

That was when she left, the door slamming shut behind her. Grissom turned away and sighed. Sara basically said to him that he had no feelings. That he was immune to emotions. If only she knew how much those words hurt him. If only she knew…

If only she knew the feelings he possesses.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh, she did NOT just say that! Anyone agree with me? But…we know things patch up eventually. I mean, they end up marrying, for Pete's sake.<strong>

**BYE!**


	18. Face Lift

**Face Lift: A robber trying to break into the safe at a pottery shop in the desert is surprised and killed. As Grissom, Catherine and Nick work the leads, they discover a set of fingerprints that belong to a four-year-old girl who was kidnapped 21 years ago. In another case, a woman was incinerated sleeping on her easy chair and as Warrick and Sara work the case, Sara begins to suspect that the death of their latest victim is due to spontaneous human combustion.**

**Next, $35K O.B.O: An attempted carjacking leads to a double homicide in a rain-soaked crime scene with only one witness. But the case becomes even more complicated for the CSIs when they find the car which becomes another crime scene. Meanwhile, three senior citizens are killed when an apartment building suddenly collapses and Catherine has to figure out how it all happened.**

**Then, Gentle, Gentle: The infant child of a rich family is kidnapped in the middle of the night, causing Grissom and his team to launch an investigation which becomes personal for them. However, the evidence reveals not much about the kidnapping but that the family is hiding something, which will potentially cause the case to take a darker turn.**

**Later, Sounds of Silence: A deaf man was killed then run over by a car, leaving Grissom, Sara and Warrick to figure out what happened leading up to his death and who killed him. The case also reveals a secret about Grissom. Catherine and Nick are in charge of an apparent mob hit in the coffee shop that resulted in the deaths of five people.**

**Followed by, Justice is Served: A jogger is gruesomely killed by a vicious dog in the park. When they begin investigate, Grissom, Nick and Warrick discover that his liver was surgically removed moments after his death. Meanwhile, Catherine gets emotionally involved in a case when a six-year-old girl dies during a carnival ride.**

**Remaining episodes:**

**Evaluation Day  
><strong>**Strip Strangler**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>A couple named Marc and Ann arrived at the pottery shop they own called The Cracked Kiln. The SUV came to a stop in front of the shop and the two stepped out.<p>

"Oh…honey, here. Take this," Ann requested kindly as she went to unlock the shop.

When she did and they stepped inside, they stopped and let out various sighs of frustration. The place was a mess. Dirt decorated the concrete floor along with cracked pottery. Immediately, the two of them knew what had happened. They were robbed.

"Not again," Marc moaned.

"We are buying that alarm system," Ann proclaimed.

"No argument from me," Mark retorted as they checked the register.

"I'm serious. They got the cash. Why did they have to be such a mess?" Ann sighed.

"Oh my god!" Marc gasped as he looked around behind the counter.

"What? What's wrong?" Ann demanded.

"Call 911," Marc requested.

On the floor, with blood surrounding his head, was a dead body.

* * *

><p>"Come here, butterfly," Nick grunted playfully as he settled his four-year-old daughter onto his hip.<p>

Nick, Catherine and Grissom had arrived at the crime scene and made their way inside. Knowing how much Kady enjoyed running off, Nick immediately decided to keep her close so she wouldn't hurt herself. Not that Kady minded, considering their intensely close relationship.

"Introductions?" Grissom requested.

"Joseph Felton. 44. Not an employee. No reason to be here," Brass told them.

"Mind if he and I have a moment together?" Grissom asked.

"No," Brass shook his head before taking Kady from Nick.

"Really?" Nick sighed as he began working.

Grissom examined the body while Catherine dusted the cash register and garden gnomes and Nick took photos of everything. However, when he reached the safe, things got interesting.

"Burn marks?" Brass observed.

"Unusual way to penetrate a safe," Nick remarked, earning a hum from Brass, "How much was taken?"

"Three hundred and something. Some bills," Brass answered.

"Multiple contusions to the back of the skull. Might've been taken by surprise," Grissom observed.

"Robbery interruptus?" Catherine guessed.

"Yeah," Grissom agreed, "I think our robbery suspect is a homicide victim."

"One way to beat the rap," Catherine whistled.

Insert title credits here

"This is an easy one. The guy from the pottery store has got three hits to the head. Trauma to the brain stem was fatal. Death was instantaneous," Doc Robbins explained to Nick and Catherine.

"Can you tell us anything about the murder weapon?" Catherine asked.

"Nothing definite. But I swabbed the points of impact. Slide's under the microscope," Doc Robbins answered as Nick took a look.

"Yellow looks like transfer from the murder weapon. But what's with the glitter?" Nick wanted to know.

"Unidentified mineral. I sent a sample to trace for analysis," Doc Robbins told them.

"Hey, Doc. You have a comb?" Catherine suddenly asked, causing both men to look at her.

"Your hair looks great, Cath," Nick complimented.

"Gee, thanks, Nick," Catherine thanked as she accepted the comb and stepped forward with a piece of paper.

"Guy's still dirty. They don't get a bath till evidence is collected," Doc Robbins reminded her.

"That's what I'm doing. Although, I don't think this is dirt," Catherine said as she combed the substance in the victim's hair onto the paper, "He's covered in spores. I think these are from a fern."

"Well, the back entrance was overgrown with them," Nick recalled.

"A fern plant deposits billions of spores in its lifetime. Most are just dust in the wind. In our case, they're evidence. As good as fingerprints or fibres in placing a suspect at a crime scene," Catherine smirked.

* * *

><p>As Catherine walked past the print lab, she saw Grissom sitting there in front of the computer. Immediately, she knew that he was there the whole time she and Nick were with Doc Robbins. And she wanted to know what was so interesting.<p>

"Hey. You forgot about the coroner?" Catherine asked.

"Melissa Marlowe," was all Grissom said.

"Excuse me?" Catherine demanded.

Grissom looked up at Catherine and said, "You lifted 38 prints from the pottery store. I scanned them through AFIS. One came back. Melissa Marlowe."

"Why do I know that name?" Catherine mused.

"Kidnapping. Colorado. 21 years ago. The little girl," Grissom stated.

"Oh, that Melissa Marlowe," Catherine nodded, "Wasn't she presumed dead?"

"Well, not anymore. On the left is Melissa Marlowe's print age four – preschool fingerprinting initiative. On the right is a print you lifted from the crime scene," Grissom began explaining.

"I don't see a match," Catherine observed.

"Neither did I. But since fingerprints are set for life during the fourth month of foetal development, I looked beyond the size differential," Grissom told her as he brought up the matched print from 4-year-old Melissa Marlowe to one of the prints Catherine collected, "Now, both prints are ulnar loops. Bifurcation, recurve and ridge endings are identical. I've aligned the prints along the delta."

"You've got a perfect match!" Catherine gasped, "Wait. Is she a suspect in the homicide?"

"No. Her print wasn't fresh. There was dust on it. Has to be a few weeks old. I think we have two separate cases. So I'm going to take the new lead in the old kidnapping case," Grissom decided.

"And Nick and I will cover the homicide," Catherine said.

* * *

><p>"Nadine Winston falls asleep in that chair and incinerates. We can make history," Sara decreed at her and Warrick's latest crime scene.<p>

"Oh come on now. Don't tell me you believe in that BS," Warrick moaned.

"No. Of course not. I'm a scientist. I just…," Sara trailed off as she picked up the pack of cigarettes on the coffee table, "She has been reduced to ashes."

"Come on, Sara. Spontaneous human combustion is science fiction," Warrick pointed out.

"I know," Sara defended.

"There's no such thing as a human torch," Warrick went on.

"What if it is real and we've uncovered it?" Sara asked excitedly.

"Sara, this is a crime scene. Stay with me here, OK? Don't turn into Kadelin," Warrick begged.

"I'm not. I'm just open to all theories," Sara retorted.

"What's that?" Warrick asked as he referred to the fibre.

"Looks like cotton fibre. Possibly from a nightgown. It's barely scorched. Weird. It's like the body burned. But…," Sara once again trailed off as she realized the reason behind this, "The clothing was fire retardant."

Some ash fell on Warrick, distracting him from his argument with Sara about the possibility of spontaneous human combustion. When he looked up and saw the source of the ashes.

A giant hole in the ceiling.

"Wow. Check that out," Warrick whistled.

"Fire practically burned a hole in the roof. But it's isolated in one spot," Sara observed.

"It's as if the fire created a chimney for itself," Warrick remarked.

"The victim – she live alone?" Sara asked Officer Arvington.

"Husband's already at the station," Officer Arvington answered.

* * *

><p>"I am telling you. I have no idea what happened to my wife," Larry Winston told Sergeant O'Riley.<p>

"Were you having marital problems?" O'Riley asked.

"No. We were like newlyweds," Larry scoffed.

"If I understand you correctly, you went to bed. Nadine fell asleep in the easy chair. Ten hours later, you woke up, walked into the living room and she was a pile of ash," O'Riley surmised.

* * *

><p>Warrick and Sara were watching everything go on in the interview room from the observation room. Sara, however, still wouldn't let go of her theory about spontaneous human combustion.<p>

"A human torch," Sara smirked.

"Yeah right," Warrick retorted.

"You say you were like newlyweds?" O'Riley repeated, earning a 'Yeah' from Winston, "But the two of you weren't sleeping in the same bed."

"Good question," Warrick complimented.

"She snored. It was a problem. But…a small one," Larry defended.

"Mr Winston, do you know how to use a blowtorch?" O'Riley asked.

"Another good question," Warrick remarked.

"Look. I came down to this station on my own. If I can be helpful, let me know!" Larry requested in anger as he threw his visitor badge on the table and stormed out.

"So do you still think it's spontaneous combustion?" Warrick questioned.

"Theories give way to conclusions once all the evidence is in. I am merely thinking about the next piece of evidence," Sara defended.

"Yeah," Warrick agreed sarcastically.

* * *

><p>"Yeah. Hey, Nicky. You paged me?" Brass asked as he ruffled Kady's hair.<p>

"Hey!" she protested as she soothed it out.

"Yeah. Yeah, Jim, hi. I took these photos at the crime scene," Nick started as he began laying them out, "It's a high-powered electric blaster. It could cut through that hard plate with extreme precision. It's not common, but effective."

"Yeah," Brass agreed.

"Crime scene photo from a robbery case in '99," Nick revealed as he showed Brass the photo, "Joseph Felton, our dead guy, was arrested but granted immunity in exchange for his testimony against his partner, Darin Hanson, who used a plasma lance to crack that safe. Darin Hanson was released from prison last month. His last known address: Vegas."

"I see where you're going," Brass smirked, "So Hanson gets out of jail, hooks up with our dead guy."

"Yeah. They hook it up, break through the rear entrance of the pottery store. Hanson lances the safe. Once the safe is cracked, Hanson steps back, allowing Felton to collect the cash. With Felton's attention diverted, Hanson seizes the moment…kills him. Revenge for testifying against him and putting him in prison," Nick surmised what he thought had happened.

"That's not bad," Kady complimented.

"Not bad? You hurt me, butterfly," Nick joked as he poked her tummy affectionately.

"Any chance you guys found the murder weapon?" Brass asked.

"No, no," Nick shook his head, "But I think we know who to ask."

* * *

><p>"I haven't seen Joseph Felton since the trail two years ago," Darin told Brass, Nick and Catherine.<p>

"So it's a coincidence that he was killed shortly after you were released from prison," Nick retorted.

"Yeah. Guy put me in jail. I had no reason to see him again," Darin said.

"He put you in the gray bar? Sounds like motive to me," Catherine remarked.

"Darin, you and Felton. You go back, huh?" Brass guessed.

"Mm-hmm. Knew the guy fifteen years. My folks lived across the street from him. We'd barbeque together with his wife and daughter," Darn answered.

"He must have really pissed you off when he turned on you," Catherine pointed out.

"The transcript from your trial says that you used a plasma lance in that '99 burglary. And there it is again, Darin," Nick pointed out.

"Joe was the lance guy. He taught me how to break into safes. That's why the M.O's the same," Darin defended.

"Where were you this morning early A.M?" Brass asked.

"I was in Barstow all week. Just got back this afternoon," Darn answered before sighing at the doubtful look Nick was giving him and pulling out receipts from the trip, "OK. Here you go. Receipts from the trip. Go ahead."

"Looks authentic. Cactus Pine Café, Barstow. Noon today," Catherine read out.

"We can't hold him," Brass decreed.

* * *

><p>"21 years ago, the chief of police sat in our living room and told us our daughter was dead," Mrs Marlowe recalled to Grissom.<p>

"After all this time, she's in Vegas? That's a hundred miles from our home!" Hank Marlowe pointed out.

"Well, we still don't know where she is. Her prints in the pottery store tell us that she was here possibly a few weeks ago. But Vegas is a tourist town," Grissom reminded them.

"But you know she's alive," Hank said.

"I'm still not sure we can find her," Grissom confessed.

"She's our only child. We never gave up hope. We're not giving up now," Mrs Marlowe decreed.

"Excuse me."

Grissom looked up and faced the doorway to be greeted by a very familiar face. Teri Millar. Immediately, Grissom was happy to see her. But he couldn't help but remember their last meeting. How such a terrific dinner had to go south.

"Teri…come in," Grissom invited.

"Hi," Teri smiled as Grissom stood next to her.

"Teri Miller, Mr and Mrs Marlowe," Grissom introduced.

"Hello," Teri greeted.

"Hi," Mrs Marlowe nodded.

"Teri is a forensic artist. I called her to help us," Grissom told them.

"Did you bring the photographs of Melissa?" Teri asked.

"Yes. But I don't see how they can help. In some of those, she's just an infant," Mrs Marlowe pointed out.

"It doesn't matter," Teri reassured her, "Do you remember her eyes?"

"I could never forget," Mrs Marlowe gushed.

"As we age, our eyes don't change. That's where we'll start," Teri decided.

"Using computer software, Teri can age Melissa's picture so that we can determine what she looks like today at age 25. Then we send it off to every law enforcement agency in the state," Grissom explained.

"It's been so long. Tell us the truth. What are our chances?" Hank asked.

"Well, 21 years ago, they told you that your daughter was dead. Now we're moving in the right direction," Grissom decreed.

* * *

><p>"Where did you find him?" Tammy Felton asked as Catherine lead her to where her father is being stored until the investigation's complete.<p>

"At a pottery store on Stansberry Street. Tammy, we've already I.D'D your father. If oyu don't want to see him, I'd understand," Catherine told her.

"No. I want to say goodbye," Tammy responded.

"Well, don't be surprised by some swelling and discoloration," Catherine warned.

She opened the storage unit and pulled out the table, revealing the body of Joseph Felton. Immediately, Tammy began to cry at the sight of her father's body.

"You have any other family?" Catherine asked gently.

"No," Tammy shook her head furiously.

"I can put you in touch with a counsellor if you need to talk," Catherine offered.

"No thank you," Tammy immediately declined.

"Is there anything you need?" Catherine asked as she slid the body back into the unit and noticed something on her jacket lapel, "Tammy…were you at the pottery store with your father?"

"What are you talking about?" Tammy demanded.

"There's some plant spores on your sweater. We found them on your father, too, and matched them to some ferns behind the pottery store," Catherine told her as she used tape to lift the spores off her jacket.

"What are you doing?" Tammy wanted to know.

"I'm taking these spores into evidence. They place you at the crime scene. Is there anything you want to tell me?" Catherine asked.

"OK. I was there," Tammy confessed.

_Begin flashback_

_Joseph was trying to unlock the back door of the Cracked Kiln. Tammy walked up to her father, intent on stopping him from falling back into old habits and being separated from him for good. The tall ferns that were overgrowing around the back door brushed against her jacket._

"_Dad! Dad, don't do this. I'll get a job. We don't need the money. Not like this!" Tammy pleaded._

_"Tammy, go home," Joseph ordered._

_Eventually, Tammy followed orders and walked away. The fern brushed against her again._

_End flashback_

"And I don't know what happened after that," Tammy finished her story.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Catherine demanded.

"I wanted to preserve the good memories. Not remember my dad as a thief," Tammy defended tearfully, "I didn't kill him. I loved him. I need a release from your office…so I can bury my father."

* * *

><p>"OK. Tell me everything you can about this foot," Warrick requested David Phillips.<p>

"Where's the rest of the body?" David immediately asked.

"Incinerated. Lab results from the ashes came back negative for accelerant. Nothing flammable but sebaceous glutamate," Sara answered.

"Human fat," David clarified, "Well…I can tell you that the malleolus – the ankle bone – is completely hollowed out. Bone marrow was reduced to ash. Which means that the foot was burned off the body, not severed. That's consistent with your theory of spontaneous combustion."

"How do you know about Sara's theory?" Warrick demanded.

"Word gets around," David shrugged.

"No. You're just siding with Sara 'cause you got a crush on her," Warrick tormented.

"No. That's why I wore a clean coat. I'm just reporting my observations. If the foot had been severed, the marrow would still be intact," David defended.

"So your official 'observation' is spontaneous combustion?" Warrick surmised.

"Not yet. I want to send a scraping down to toxicology," David answered before muttering a quiet 'Excuse me' to Sara, "I want to check for any flammable compounds in the blood. Don't expect much. The quality of the sample may have been compromised by the heat."

"I'm going to go talk to Grissom. See what he thinks," Sara decided.

"No, no. We're a team. The only place we're going is back down to that crime scene," Warrick retorted.

* * *

><p>"OK. Software's loaded," Teri reported to Grissom, who was staring at the computer over her shoulder. Kady decided to make an appearance (Nick asked Grissom to babysit her for a moment) and Teri sat her on her lap.<p>

"It's pre-programmed with developmental averages?" Grissom asked.

"Exactly," Teri nodded, "Aging is about predicting craniofacial growth. Faces grow down and out. So the first step is to stretch the bottom half of the face. You try. Go ahead."

Kady placed her hand on the mouse and Grissom placed his on top of hers. His fully-grown hand swallowed the small and petite hand on the mouse that belongs to his goddaughter. Together, they adjust the bottom half of the face. However, they pulled it too low, causing the three of them to laugh.

"No, no. Maybe you should drive," Grissom suggested.

"Good idea," Teri laughed, "Here we go. So at age four, the bridge of the nose is taking shape and the interorbital distance is established. And baby teeth are visible."

"I have a question," Grissom began.

"Okay," Teri nodded.

"Since I screwed up our last date, will we ever have dinner again?" Grissom asked.

"Oh, we'll have dinner. Just not together," Teri smiled, "So the ears are low and large in proportion to the head."

"You know, I did apologize," Grissom pointed out as he watched Teri adjust the photo.

"And you're forgiven," Teri reassured him, causing Grissom to straighten up slightly, "So over the next ten years, the face elongates, the skin thickens, the hair pattern is set and the small deciduous teeth are replaced by the secondary dentition. Once the face is aged, I look to the mother to fill in the blanks."

"Is that Mrs Marlowe?" Kady asked, looking at the photo Teri just pulled up.

"Uh-huh," Teri nodded, "Most daughters at age 25 age quite similar to their mothers. A network of grids allows me to fine-tune the tiniest facial characteristics one section at a time. I'm just softening a few edges, growing the hair…and we're done."

"Wow. Hello, Melissa," Grissom remarked.

"Hi, Aunty Cathy!" Kady greeted happily.

"Hey, sunshine. Am I interrupting?" Catherine asked.

"Not at all. You're just in time," Teri corrected.

"Catherine, say hello to Melissa Marlowe," Grissom beamed.

Grissom turned the monitor around so Catherine can see their composite of Melissa Marlowe. Catherine took a good look of the photo and her eyes widened in surprise. She knew who this is.

"Oh my god!" Catherine gasped.

"What?" Grissom demanded.

"That's Tammy Felton and we've already met," Catherine told him.

* * *

><p>"Tammy Felton's our murder suspect?" Nick repeated as he took Kady from Grissom, "Hey, butterfly."<p>

"Hi," Kady responded.

"She was kidnapped 21 years ago and may have killed the man who raised her. Possibly the same man who kidnapped her," Catherine told him.

"Whoa, wait. I thought her print's from the crime scene – they weren't fresh," Nick recalled.

"Yeah. Well, she could've cased the place weeks ago and then remembered to wear gloves on the big night," Grissom shrugged.

"Hey, Nick. So what's the word on the murder weapon?" Catherine asked.

"Well, the swab from the head wound's at trace," Nick began.

"And?" Grissom pressed.

"I'm on it," Nick finished as he walked away, taking Kady with him.

"You and I have an appointment with our shrink," Grissom smirked at Catherine.

* * *

><p>"Here. You twirl, I'll talk," Dr Phillip Kane requested.<p>

Grissom stood up and held the bat with the handle pointing towards Dr Kane, who was wrapping black masking tape around the handle.

"My son has little league in an hour. He's scared of the ball," Dr Kane clarified.

"You think this new bat's going to do the trick?" Grissom asked, causing Dr Kane to chuckle.

"Why don't you just talk with him," Catherine suggested, causing Dr Kane to chuckle again, "Dr Kane, this girl was kidnapped at age four. Would she have any recollection of her prior life?"

"The theory of infantile amnesia suggests that we have no cognitive memory before the age of three. But since Tammy – or Melissa – was taken from her biological parents at age four, she may remember something of her former life," Dr Kane answered.

"But these memories would be…tenuous?" Grissom guessed.

"A sound or a smell might awaken some latent image or feeling. But she'd have difficulty contextualizing these sensations," Dr Kane told them.

"That's got to be frustrating," Catherine remarked as Dr Kane finished wrapping the bat and took it from Grissom.

"And it's precisely that frustration which dominates this woman's present state of mind. Kidnapped children at that age tend to exhibit some degree of sociopathy as adults," Dr Kane went on.

"Such as?" Catherine pressed.

"Inability to feel guilt, compassion or love right?" Grissom guessed.

"Correct. But the most defining characteristic is their instinct for survival. There's nothing that they won't do," Dr Kane nodded.

"Tammy Felton needs help," Catherine decreed, "She may be a suspect. But she's also a victim."

"Cath, meet with her again. Ask open questions," Grissom instructed before turning to Dr Kane, "Thanks for your insights, Philip. I'll let you know how this unfolds."

"Gil…be careful. Sociopaths are dangerous because they don't function by the same…moral code as the rest of us," Dr Kane warned.

"Welcome to my world," Grissom smirked.

* * *

><p>"I checked with homicide again. They found no evidence of foul play," Sara told Warrick as they went back to the house.<p>

"What about the husband? Is he still a suspect?" Warrick asked.

"No motive. O'Riley spoke with friends and relatives. They were a loving couple," Sara answered.

"What about, uh…life insurance policies?" Warrick went on.

"No. And you're reaching," Sara accused.

"I'm not the one who's reaching here," Warrick retorted.

"We're scientists, right? We want answers, the satisfaction of certainty. I'm not ignoring scientific method. I'm just keeping an open mind. If we eliminate all the alternatives, we're left with spontaneous combustion. That's exciting!" Sara defended.

"That would be cool," Warrick agreed, "But you've been jumping to conclusions from minute one."

"She's a pile of ash," Sara reminded him.

"Well, I brought this ion detector. This will pick up even the smallest traces of hydrocarbon fumes," Warrick boasted.

"Great," Sara said.

"I don't care what the lab says. This puppy will reveal exactly what accelerant was used to start the fire," Warrick went on.

Warrick waved the ion detector around the easy chair where Nadine was burnt to death. Steady beeping was emitted from the machine as he waved it over various points over and over.

"Well?" Sara pressed.

"…nothing," Warrick grumbled.

* * *

><p>"You know I love you. Yes…no, I love you more. No. I love you more…"<p>

Greg Sanders was lounging around his desk by the phone talking to his latest girlfriend. Something he didn't notice was Nick walking into the lab with Kady settled on his hip.

"I get what you mean," Nick murmured in agreement as Kady pretended to vomit before he cleared his throat.

"Bye, baby," Greg muttered before turning to the Dynamic Duo, "Hello, my favourite goddaughter."

"She's your only goddaughter," Nick retorted as Greg sat Kady in his lap.

"But she's still my favourite," Greg shot back.

"Do you have the results on the swab yet?" Nick asked.

"Uh…," Greg trailed off.

"Uh…from the dead guy at the pottery store? The coroner sent over a sample. You were supposed to analyse the mineral content," Nick reminded him.

"Oh yeah. I'm sorry. Grissom has just been running me around like a lapdog. I haven't had a chance," Greg lied.

"Grissom's on a missing persons. He hasn't sent you anything," Nick retorted.

"Did I say Grissom? No. I meant Catherine," Greg corrected his lie.

"Oh yeah. Catherine's working with me," Nick shot back.

"Oh. Well, what do you say we check out a swab then, huh?" Greg suggested.

"Great," Nick nodded.

Greg laughed and, with Kady still in his lap, rolled his chair over to the fridge to retrieve the sample.

"Don't you ever goof off, huh? Do you ever get a little lost in life?" Greg asked with a smirk.

"I have a four-year-old daughter," Nick answered with a facial expression that clearly read, 'What do you think, Einstien?'

"Touché," Greg muttered as he slid the slide under the scope, "OK."

"Do you see the sparkly bits?" Nick asked.

"Fluorescent minerals. Interesting. Hey. Do me a favour, will you?" Greg asked as he handed Nick a pair of goggles and moved out of the way so he could stand behind the scope, "Put your nose down the scope. And when you see the sparkling bits glow, give me a shout. OK. Ready?"

"Yeah. Ready," Nick nodded.

Greg placed the light on the metal as Nick looked down the scope. Whenever Nick doesn't give a yell, he changed the colour which would change the mineral composition.

"Lead… Zinc… Lithium… Anything?" Greg asked.

"Nothing yet," Nick answered.

"Manganese.. Petroleum… Alright. How about this?" Greg suggested as he altered the light.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop!" Nick yelled as he noticed the metal sparkle.

"It's uranium," Greg announced, causing Nick and Kady to freak out.

"Are you serious?" Nick and Kady exclaimed.

"Simple quantum mechanics. When the molecule is bombarded with energy at a specific level, the electrons excite, causing the mineral to glow. And at this wavelength, it's definitely uranium," Greg explained.

"Which is radioactive," Nick pointed out, "Do we need to evacuate the building or anything?"

"The amount is trace. We should be fine," Greg reassured him.

"You sure?" Nick pressed.

"No," Greg shook his head, causing Nick to freak out even more, "But I can tell you one thing for sure. There is definitely uranium on your murder weapon."

* * *

><p>That remark didn't stop Nick from racing to the break room to furiously scrub his hands. He didn't touch Kady in case he had uranium on his hands so he wouldn't expose her. Grissom walked in with Kady in his arms, having stolen her from Greg on his way through.<p>

"I hear that, uh, Greg found uranium on the swab from Felton's skull," Grissom said.

"Yeah. He says I'm OK. But you know Greg. Tell me. Am I radiating a green glow?" Nick asked, causing Kady to giggle, "What are you laughing at?"

"You'll be fine, silkwood," Grissom reassured him as he handed Kady over.

"What's uranium doing on a murder weapon anyway?" Nick wanted to know as he kissed Kady's head.

"Well, before Peter Parker was bit by that radioactive spider and became Spiderman back in the 50s, oxidized uranium flecks were used as colour enhancers," Grissom explained.

"Colour enhancers?" Nick repeated.

"Like paint? Paints, dyes, glazes…since our guy was killed in a pottery store," Grissom trailed off.

"Say no more," Nick said.

* * *

><p>Nick found himself back at The Cracked Kiln. This time, he had a Geiger counter in his hand. He waved it around all over the place. Going from one product to the other only to get the same result: steady beeping. However, when he reached the gnome figurine, the counter went off. Curious, Nick picked up the figurine and immediately noticed that the backside was chipping and had pieces of hair and blood.<p>

"You got to be kidding me," Nick chuckled.

* * *

><p>"You found Melissa?" Mrs Marlowe gasped excitedly.<p>

"Yes," Grissom nodded.

"When can we see her?" Mrs Marlowe asked.

"It's not quite that simple," Grissom told them.

"What do you mean?" Hank demanded.

"Well, I don't want to be evasive. It's just that, uh…we suspect she might have committed a crime," Grissom revealed.

"What kind of crime?" Mrs Marlowe asked.

"A homicide," Grissom answered.

"This can't be happening," Mrs Marlowe shook her head.

"Mr Grissom, we want to see our daughter – now," Hank requested.

* * *

><p>"Tell me about your mother," Catherine requested.<p>

"What's she got to do with this?" Tammy demanded.

"Tammy, if you've got nothing to hide and you want me to find out who killed your father, why don't you just answer my questions?" Catherine suggested.

"Mara, my mother, died a few years ago," Tammy finally told her.

* * *

><p>"I can let you see her. But I can't allow you to talk to her. Not right now. And not under these circumstances," Grissom warned Hank and his wife as they walked into the observation room to watch the interview.<p>

"Your parents, were they close?" Catherine asked.

"They loved each other," Tammy answered.

"Do you have any siblings?" Catherine questioned.

"Only child," Tammy told her.

"How was your childhood? Were you a happy child? Did you have any friends?" Catherine pressed.

"Look. I don't see how these questions are going to help you. May I go?" Tammy requested.

"Sure," Catherine nodded.

Immediately, Tammy stood from her seat and stormed out of the interview room. The door slammed shut behind her. Mrs Marlowe took her chance. She had waited 21 years for this. She wasn't able to wait any longer. She ran out of the observation room and chased after Tammy. Grissom and Hank immediately followed her.

"Mellissa? Melissa!" Mrs Marlowe called.

"Excuse me?" Tammy said as she faced her.

"It's mum," Mrs Marlowe gasped as she embraced Tammy warmly, "Baby."

"Lady…I'm not your daughter," Tammy stated hardly before walking away.

"Who is she? Her name? Who is she now?" Mrs Marlowe demanded, her voice filled with tears.

"Tammy. Tammy Felton," Catherine answered.

"Oh my God!" Mrs Marlowe exclaimed.

"What?" Catherine demanded.

"Mara Felton was our babysitter. The police questioned Mara when Melissa disappeared," Mrs Marlowe sobbed.

"Tammy referred to her mother as Mara, now deceased," Catherine revealed.

"I am her mother!" Mrs Marlowe protested.

"Of course. I didn't mean…," Catherine trailed off.

"We need a lawyer," Hank cut in.

"Why would you need a lawyer?" Grissom asked.

"Not for us. For our daughter," Hank corrected before they left.

"What were you thinking?" Catherine immediately demanded Grissom.

"I don't know. I wanted to observe them, I guess," Grissom sighed.

"That woman hasn't seen her daughter in 21 years. You actually thought a glass wall would keep them apart?" Catherine retorted.

"I never thought of that," Grissom confessed.

"I know. You're not good with people," Catherine stated.

"Yeah," Grissom agreed.

* * *

><p>"Interesting voice mail you left me," Sara smirked as she walked up to Warrick.<p>

"What's that?" Warrick wanted to know.

"Meet me behind CSI and bring a cotton nightgown," Sara recited, "I'd wear it for you. But, uh, I prefer pyjamas."

"Really? It was actually for my girlfriend here," Warrick corrected as he revealed the pig under the cloth, "Miss Piggy."

"We're experimenting on a pig again?" Sara grimaced as she took a step backward, earning a quiet 'yeah' from Warrick, causing her to swallow, "You know, I-I-I haven't eaten meat since Grissom used one to estimate post-mortem insect growth."

"Well, I tried for human volunteers. But no takers," Warrick joked.

"What are you going to do exactly?" Sara finally asked as Warrick took the cotton nightgown off of her and began dressing the pig.

"What are we going to do? We're disproving the existence of spontaneous human combustion," Warrick proclaimed.

"You do not give up," Sara smirked.

"Well, we're recreating the death of Nadine Winston, right? She was wearing a cotton nightgown – thank you – and she had a half a pack of smokes on her end table, which means she was probably smoking a cigarette," Warrick began.

"If she burned herself with the cigarette, she would've woken up. Not burned up," Sara stated.

"Best part: toxicology sample came back. Nadine had a high concentration of seconal in her blood," Warrick told her.

"Sleeping pills," Sara clarified.

"Enough to knock out a horse," Warrick remarked as he finished dressing the pig, "Alright."

Warrick took out a cigarette he had on his person for scientific reasons related to the case. However, something he couldn't find was matches or a lighter.

"Care for a light?" Sara offered as she took out her lighter.

Warrick held his cigarette towards her and Sara held the flame over the front of the cigarette. After making sure it was well lit, he carefully placed it on the edge of the cotton nightdress. Slowly, the flames travelled up the nightdress. It was only a matter of time.

"Now what?" Sara asked.

"We wait," Warrick answered.

* * *

><p>Tammy heard the sound of the buzzer, indicating that someone was at the front door. Immediately, she stood up and went to answer, although deep down, she didn't want to. When she saw who was there, she began to regret responding even more.<p>

It was Catherine, Nick, Grissom and a police officer.

"Hi, Tammy," Catherine greeted, "We just, uh, want to look around."

"We have a warrant," Nick told her as he took out the warrant.

"A warrant for what?" Tammy demanded as she fully opened the door.

"Any evidence related to the murder of your father," Grissom answered.

"Tammy, could you step outside?" Catherine requested kindly, "This officer will keep you company."

Tammy stepped outside the house and invited them inside. Catherine muttered a quiet thanks before they got to work. Grissom and Catherine began looking through the clothing. Nick walked into the room proudly as if he found something. But they didn't pay him any heed…until Nick cleared his throat.

"What?" Grissom asked.

"I should get a finder's fee," Nick remarked as he held up a pair of gloves whilst laughing, "Here. One for each of you."

Grissom and Catherine approached Nick and accepted a glove each. They looked at them under magnifying glasses. Immediately, they noticed the flecks of yellow paint hidden away. Instantly, they pictured the gnome that was used to kill their latest victim.

"Yellow paint," Catherine observed.

"Shall we test for uranium?" Grissom suggested.

"I need a darkroom," Nick pointed out.

Catherine handed her glove to Nick since it had the greater number of yellow paint flecks. Grissom began clearing a spot off the table and accepted the jacket Catherine offered him. Where they were didn't provide them with access to a dark room. So they have to improvise.

"Now if uranium is present, the photons should react with the film," Nick explained as he placed the unexposed film against the glove and placed both under the jacket, "OK. I'm exposing it."

Once he was finished, he took the film out. Now all they had to do was wait for it to develop. Some time later, the film had been developed and it was showing yellow flecks.

"Well, that's affirmative for uranium," Catherine stated.

"Nicely done, Nick," Grissom complimented as he accepted the photo from him.

"Thanks," Nick thanked.

Grissom cut open the two gloves at the seams. They appeared to be two flat hand-shaped halves. Catherine walked back inside with Tammy and the police officer.

Now was when everything began to fall together.

"Miss, have you ever worn these gloves?" Grissom asked.

"No. They belonged to my mother," Tammy answered.

"Really? Well, we'll see," Grissom remarked as he dusted the inside of the gloves.

"Tammy, I need your right index finger," Catherine requested.

Without taking her eyes off of Grissom and his work, Tammy held out her finger for Catherine. Once she was done, she sat next to Grissom waiting for him to finish his work of forensic art. Grissom lifted the print of the right index finger and compared it to Tammy's fingerprint. Time seemed to slow as he went from print to print. After numerous minutes, he finally looked up.

"It's a perfect match. Joe lanced the safe. Once the safe was cracked, you seized the moment and bashed his head in – three blows," Grissom revealed, causing Tammy to go quiet, "Nick, call Brass. Tell him it's time to make an arrest."

"Done," Nick nodded as he stood up and left the room.

"You're making a mistake. I didn't kill my father. We weren't alone," Tammy stuttered.

"I'm sorry. But there's no evidence to indicate that there was a third person present at the crime scene," Grissom told her.

"Who else was there?" Catherine asked.

"I tried to stop her. I swear," Tammy went on.

"Tammy," Catherine began as she stood up, "Who was with you?"

"Melissa Marlowe. But that bitch wouldn't listen!" Tammy cried.

* * *

><p>"So we're looking at a split personality?" Brass surmised as he, Grissom, Catherine and Dr Kane observed Tammy in the interview room from the observation room.<p>

"Quite possible. Two personalities in one," Dr Kane nodded.

"Is there any scientific evidence that supports this disorder?" Brass asked.

"Brain scans have documented changes in the hippocampus of individuals shifting from one personality to another," Grissom answered, "But would these two personalities be aware of each other?"

"Well, usually the dominant personality is aware of everything. The subjugated personality is only aware of itself," Dr Kane explained.

"Tammy's the dominant personality," Grissom realized.

"But Melissa killed Joseph Felton – Tammy's father," Catherine pointed out.

"Who was also Melissa's kidnapper," Grissom added.

"Revenge for a kidnapping 21 years after the fact?" Brass repeated in disbelief.

"Well, it is possible. It may have taken that long for the subjugated personality to break free," Dr Kane guessed.

"Maybe, uh, Miss Mirror-Has-Two-Faces is playing us for fools. We corner her with the evidence, she goes nuts. Sets the groundwork for an insanity plea," Brass stated.

"Forensic psychology is a science," Catherine reminded them.

"We have to stay open to all the possibilities," Grissom sighed.

"Captain?" an officer began as he walked in.

"Yeah?" Brass responded.

"The girl's parents are here with her attorney," he announced.

"Well, this ought to be interesting," Brass remarked.

* * *

><p>"Melissa…," Mrs Marlowe began, causing Tammy to look up.<p>

"Lady, I'm sorry. But I don't know who you are. I'm not Melissa. I'm Tammy. Tammy Felton," Tammy shook her head in denial.

"Tammy, my name is Randy Painter. I'm a defence attorney. The Marlowes have hired me to defend you," Randy introduced himself.

"I didn't kill my father," Tammy nodded.

"Melissa, I don't know what you've been told but you're our daughter. You were taken from us. We've spent the last 21 years looking for you," Hank told her.

"My father was Joseph. My mother was Mara. And they're both dead," Tammy denied.

"Bail's been set at half a million dollars," Randy announced.

Tammy looked up at Randy and shook her head in disbelief. The Marlowes set her up with a lawyer. Sure. That was easy. But they wouldn't be able to make a bail like that without giving up their livelihood. Mrs Marlowe placed her hand on Tammy's, but she immediately pulled it back. She looked at the locket around Mrs Marlowe's neck and something seemed to awaken inside her. Mrs Marlowe noticed.

"You looking at my necklace? Your father bought this for me when you were born and you used to play with it," Mrs Marlowe recalled as she observed the recollection on Tammy's face, "We're not going to let you go to jail. Right? Right, Hank?"

"Raising even 10% won't be easy," Hank told her sadly, causing Mrs Marlowe to cry.

"Hank, she's not spending another night away from us. Whatever it takes," Mrs Marlowe sobbed.

"When are we due in court?" Hank asked Randy.

"The prelim's tomorrow morning. 9am," Randy answered.

"Then I'd better hurry with bail," Hank remarked as Mrs Marlowe reached a hand towards her daughter…only to pull it back.

* * *

><p>Sara and Warrick never left the sight of the smoking chair where they were burning the pig. Deciding to entertain themselves, they decided to play chess and drink coffee.<p>

"I just got back to the lab, saw the smoke. What's up?" Grissom asked as he walked up to them with Kady in his arms.

"Hey, Elmo!" Warrick greeted happily as he settled Kady into his lap and held her tightly.

"We're just working a case," Sara answered Grissom's question as she ruffled Kady's hair.

"Yeah. We're disproving spontaneous human combustion. We dressed the pig up in a cotton dress and torched it with a cigarette," Warrick added.

"And what happened?" Grissom wanted to know.

"The pig's been reduced to ash. The fat acted like candlewax. Burned hot, slow and intense," Warrick stopped when he saw Grissom make the next move on the chessboard, clearly not interested in his explanation, "Nothing spontaneous about it."

"You both knew that there'd be a scientific explanation for the human torch though, right?" Grissom pointed out, causing Sara to go quiet.

"Of course," Warrick immediately covered for both of them.

"Did you find the wick?" Grissom asked.

"The wick?" Sara repeated.

"The what?" Warrick demanded.

"A piece of fabric that's scorched but not completely burned. Like possibly from the nightgown," Grissom suggested as he picked up a piece of unburned fabric from the chair.

"We found the same thing at the crime scene," Sara recalled.

"It's called the wick effect. It's like an inside-out candle. The fabric acts like a wick, and the body burns inward explaining the high temperatures, which destroy the bone. The fabric ends up scorched. But not completely burned," Grissom explained.

"You knew about the ashes? Why didn't you say something when you gave us the case?" Sara immediately demanded.

"Well, in science, we learn through experimentation, right? Sometimes we need to see it to believe it. You guys did a nice job. Now you have to clean it up," Grissom proclaimed as he left.

"Well, I would've looked like an idiot. Thanks for covering," Sara thanked.

"Well, you can show your appreciation by, uh, cleaning up…while the Cookie Monster devours Elmo's cookies," Warrick smirked as he took the cookies Kady had on her.

"Done," Sara smirked.

* * *

><p>"Thank you," Catherine muttered as she walked inside the jail and approached Tammy's cell, "I got a call that Melissa wanted to see me."<p>

"Thanks for coming," Tammy thanked.

"Am I speaking to Melissa? Or Tammy?" Catherine asked.

"Melissa. I know who I am now…after spending time with my real parents," Tammy answered.

"I'm not an attorney. There are no privileges here. Whatever you say…," Catherine was cut off.

"What are my chances…in court?" Tammy asked.

"The evidence is damaging," Catherine revealed.

"If I plead insanity…?" Tammy trailed off as she walked up to the bars.

"You have a lawyer. Why are you asking me?" Catherine demanded.

"You wanted to help me. When I I.D'd Joe, you were kind. I need you to testify that I was not sane at the time that I killed Joe. My lawyer says that would go a really long way with a jury," Tammy told her.

"I'm not an expert," Catherine shook her head.

"But it doesn't matter. You spent time with me. You could answer questions right away. I can't explain what happened in that room today. But it's like…the only memories I have are of me being a little kid. The last 21 years are blank – like they never happened," Tammy confessed.

"Then you shouldn't have any memories of me…Tammy," Catherine stated, ending her game, "There is no Melissa, is there?"

"Get the hell out of here," Tammy demanded in a hard voice.

"I'm gone," Catherine said as she left.

"Don't go!"

Catherine froze at the sound of the voice. It wasn't the voice of Tammy Felton. But rather, the voice of a child. The voice of Melissa Marlowe. Catherine turned around to face Tammy.

"Don't leave me here with her," Tammy pleaded in a child voice, causing Catherine to go quiet…until Tammy spoke in her normal voice, "Just practicing for court. Not bad, huh?"

"Guard," Catherine said as she walked out.

* * *

><p>"Hey. Come on. We're gonna be late for the prelim," Catherine pointed out as she walked into Grissom's office.<p>

"Tammy Felton's prelim has been postponed indefinitely," Grissom announced.

"What? Why?" Catherine demanded.

"She left town. Skipped bail," Grissom answered.

"How much did her parents lose?" Catherine asked as realization dawned on her.

"Their house and their life savings," Grissom told her, causing Catherine to sigh, "It's over. Case closed. We move on."

"Right," Catherine nodded as she left the office and called Brass, "Brass, it's Catherine. I need a credit card purchase report on the Marlowes. The last 24 hours. Based on what? Based on the fact that the Marlowes are blind when it comes to their daughter and would do anything for her."

* * *

><p>"We have no idea where she is," Hank told Catherine and Brass.<p>

"Look. You're here. She's not. And we know that you helped her flee the jurisdiction," Catherine revealed.

"What?" Mrs Marlowe demanded.

"22 bus tickets bought with your credit card to 22 different states? You made sure that we couldn't track her. Now that's aiding and abetting the flight of a suspected felon," Brass stated.

"Wherever you think she is – wherever you're planning on meeting her – she's not there. She played you. Now, if you'll just tell us where she is, we won't file charges," Catherine promised before turning to Brass, "Right?"

"Well, if she's apprehended, yes. Otherwise it's a felony. You're going to jail," Brass told them.

"Arrest us," Mrs Marlowe said as she and Hand stood up.

"Think about what you're doing," Catherine advised.

"We know exactly what we're doing," Hank assured them.

"Melissa's free. That's all that matters," Mrs Marlowe smiled.

"Frankie?" Brass indicated to the officers as they stepped forward to arrest the couple, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

* * *

><p>The bus pulls off at the side of the road on the Las Vegas Highway. As soon as a single figure stepped off the bus, the bus pulled out and continued travelling down the highway. The single figure is Tammy. She appeared to be waiting for someone. During her wait, she removed her kerchief and fluffed up her curly red hair. As she removed her jacket and tied it around her waist, a car pulled up.<p>

It was Darin Hanson.

"Am I late?" Darn asked.

"Oh, you're worth waiting for," Tammy complimented as he opened the car door for her, "You owe me one, Darin."

"Owe you? I'm the one that told you the truth about your father," Darin reminded her.

"And you knew exactly what I'd do about it," Tammy retorted as she stepped into the car.

Darin shrugged and closed the door. He knew that Tammy carried very valid points. He climbed into the car next to her as she positioned the visor mirror to look at herself. Darn drove off. They were to begin a new life together as criminals on the run and on the road.

"Where to?" Darin wanted to know.

"Does it matter?" Tammy retorted.

"Not in the least," Darn chuckled.

* * *

><p>Nick rubbed his eyes tiredly as he stared at the paperwork before him in the break room. Sure. He loved being a CSI (not more than Kady, of course). But he hated the paperwork that followed like the plague. But since Tammy skipped bail and went on the run, it was worse. Sighing, he glanced at the little girl that was asleep on the couch. She held her plush butterfly doll tightly and snuggled deeply into the blanket that was close to falling off the couch. Smiling, Nick stood and approached the couch, sitting on the floor beside it. He pulled the blanket higher over her body and moved the honey brown hair away from her eyes.<p>

"Makes you think, doesn't it?"

Nick looked up and saw Warrick leaning against the doorway admiring the adorable sight. Slowly, Warrick leaned down and sat in front of Nick on the floor next to the couch and the sleeping Kady.

"I heard about your case. I know all about Tammy Felton. She was kidnapped at the age of 4. Kadelin's four. It makes you think, doesn't it?" Warrick remarked.

"It makes me think even more about the fears I've been having since I found out Abby was pregnant," Nick confessed, "I mean, we were CSIs. We put criminals behind bars everyday. Some even go after us. We have kids, they'll be used as collateral damage."

"You're afraid Kady will be used for collateral damage," Warrick surmised.

"Every parent fears that their child would take the wrong path in life or something bad would happen to them. It's a rational thing for a parent to want to protect their child from everything. I mean, as soon as we got home the day we found out about Abby's pregnancy, we immediately decided to resign so we could protect her. So we could stop that from happening," Nick told him.

"Then the car accident," Warrick sighed.

"I decided against it because I didn't want my baby to meet her fate. Abby would've wanted me to do this. Abby would have wanted me to make Las Vegas a safe place. For Kady," Nick smiled tearfully as he tucked Kady's arm beneath the blanket, "How did I get so lucky?"

"I think she's the lucky one, Nick. I mean, look at you. Your wife died minutes after her birth. Even in the face of her death, you stepped up so you could give her the best life possible. Somehow, you managed to find a way to balance your career and raising her on your own. Others would crack within the first couple of months. You're still to crack from the pressure," Warrick stated, "Let me ask you this. If Kady got kidnapped, what would you do?"

"I'd start looking for her and I wouldn't stop until I brought her home," Nick answered without hesitation.

"It's like you said after that case with the guy being stomped to death by fellow passengers. When I asked you whether or not you would go all the way to protect your daughter, you replied without hesitation that you would kill them," Warrick recalled, "She's lucky to have you. In fact, you are envied by a lot of fathers out there. Not many of them are close with their daughters."

"Just wait till she's a teenager," Nick remarked, "I'll be yelling at her to turn the music down. Protecting her from boys who would want to ask her out on dates. Stop her from partying."

"Do you seriously see Kadelin as a partying kind of girl?" Warrick retorted, "You do a good job. In fact, the best job I've seen from any father. She's gonna be one amazing woman, Nicky. Might wanna stay on until she's out of college. So you can keep the gun to keep the boys away."

"Oh yeah!" Nick agreed as they bumped fists.

"Why can't I have a little girl like her?" Warrick pouted.

"You will one day," Nick reassured him.

* * *

><p><strong>And you and I both know how that works out for Warrick. Divorced, young son, dead. Dang flammit, Gary Dourdan! WHY'D YOU HAVE TO LEAVE? Oh! You know how they allowed the Image Manager thing on here? Well...I wanna make the cover for the whole CSI with Kady series because I'm doing every season. Do you guys have any ideas?<br>**

**BYE!**


	19. 35K OBO

**$35K O.B.O: An attempted carjacking leads to a double homicide in a rain-soaked crime scene with only one witness. But the case becomes even more complicated for the CSIs when they find the car which becomes another crime scene. Meanwhile, three senior citizens are killed when an poorly-tended apartment building suddenly collapses and Catherine has to figure out how it all happened.**

**Next, Gentle, Gentle: The infant child of a rich family is kidnapped in the middle of the night, causing Grissom and his team to launch an investigation which becomes personal for everyone. However, the evidence reveals not much about the kidnapping but that the family is hiding something; something that will potentially cause the case to take a darker turn.**

**Then, Sounds of Silence: A deaf man was run over by a car, leaving Grissom, Sara and Warrick to figure out what happened leading up to his death and who killed him after discovering that he was already dying before being run over. The case also reveals a secret about Grissom that no one (except Kady) knew about. Catherine and Nick are in charge of an apparent mob hit in a local coffee shop that resulted in the deaths of five people.**

**Later, Justice is Served: A jogger is gruesomely killed by a vicious dog in the park. When they begin investigate, Grissom, Nick and Warrick discover that his liver was surgically removed just moments later. Meanwhile, Sara grows concerned when Catherine gets emotionally involved in their case involving the death of a six-year-old girl on a carnival ride.**

**Followed by, Evaluation Day: Grissom reaches the day where he has to evaluate his team. However, the cases that are thrown at the Graveyard shift delay him from the evaluations. Along with Catherine, he deals with the discovery of a severed head in the trunk of a car while Sara and Nick travel to the desert to investigate a headless body that appears to fell from the sky. Warrick is in charge of a murder in a juvenile detention centre where his young friend Janes is the only witness.**

**Concluding with, Strip Strangler: A signature killer is torturing, raping and killing young women who are single parents to young daughters (specifically, aged between 3 and 5) before brutally killing their daughters. Grissom and his team lead the investigations. However, they find it difficult as the killer posses enough knowledge of forensic science to leave little to no evidence behind. Much to Grissom's dismay, the Sheriff decides to involve the FBI when he feels that the investigation has reached a dead end. The anger that Nick and Grissom share will only grow when they want to use Sara and Kady as bait to possibly lure the killer into the open.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>Andre's Restaurant is a popular restaurant in Las Vegas. It is well-known for its delicious menu. It explains why Kevin Shepard and his wife, Amy, decide to go to this restaurant to celebrate their anniversary.<p>

"Good evening," a guest greeted as they left.

"Hi," Kevin nodded as he and Amy wrapped their arms around each other and continued to walk down the sidewalk.

"That was nice. I had such a beautiful time tonight. Eight years," Amy gushed excitedly.

"People say we wouldn't last," Kevin remarked, causing Amy to laugh, "Happy anniversary, baby."

"Happy anniversary," Amy smiled as they kissed.

They continued walking until they reached their car. Kevin, being a perfect gentleman, walked his wife to her door before walking towards his own. They flashed a smile at each other. Tonight had set a happy mood over the happy eight-year-old couple.

However…something would end their happiness.

A masked man dressed in black grabbed Amy from behind. Kevin stood there frozen. Immediately, he knew that he should save his wife. But he didn't know how. He was still frozen by the killer's next action. But this time, frozen from shock. He saw the killer slit her throat and let her fall to the ground.

Her blood creating a pool around her body.

* * *

><p>The camera flashed as Sara knelt over the lifeless body of Amy Shepard. Moments after the crime had been committed, 911 had been called and CSIs and officers arrived at the scene. However, something was going to make their case a little more difficult.<p>

"Two victims. She's on the sidewalk a foot from the curb and he's in the middle of the street," Warrick observed.

"What's missing here?" Sara asked.

"No car," Warrick observed.

"No mercy," Kady shrugged from her position between Nick's legs and wrapped in his arm.

"This guy's been stabbed at least five times. Got some reddish hair. Vic's hair is brown," Nick pointed out.

"What do we got?" Grissom asked as he and Brass walked up to the scene.

"They had dinner at Andre's. Coroner's assistant has his wallet with the credit card receipt," Brass answered.

"They didn't bother to valet," Grissom stated.

"Saved five bucks. Cost them their lives," Brass remarked, "Carjacking gone back."

"Carjackers don't use knives," Grissom retorted.

"Never?" Brass said.

"They used to say "Never on Sunday." Then Pearl Harbour happened. I never say never," Grissom shot back. **(Jason: He just said never twice. Me: Seriously, McCann? Jason: I thought you weren't a Belieber anymore. Me: Hey. Once a Belieber, always a Belieber. Besides, there's no reason why I can't be both a Belieber and a Directioner. Jason: True.)**

Suddenly, he heard the familiar sound of a tiny splash. A drop of water falls into a pool of blood. Another drop landed on someone's jacket. A third drop landed on Kady's arm, causing her, Nick and Grissom to look up at the sky, earning them a raindrop to the forehead each.

"Oh man…," Brass trailed off.

"Baby, run to the car," Nick immediately instructed as he gently guided Kady in the right direction, "Watch where you step!"

It began pouring as soon as Kady began running. She had barely taken five steps before she was soaked to the bone. Grissom stood up and immediately began screaming out instructions.

"We got three minutes to process this crime scene! After that, we lose it all to the gutters! Sara, take overalls! Warrick, put a cone down on everything you bag! Nick, we got to get these bodies into the van!" Grissom shouted as he grabbed Kady and placed her in a van.

"LET'S GO!" Nick yelled.

"BRING ME A BODY BAG! I WANT TO COVER THIS WOMAN!" Brass requested.

"GET A BAG! HURRY UP!" Nick exclaimed.

"CAN WE GET ANOTHER GURNEY?" Sara requested.

"I NEED ANOTHER GURNEY!" Grissom cried.

"LOAD THIS UP!" the coroners were yelling.

"LET'S GO! LET'S GO! OK! I'VE GOT THIS!" Nick screamed, "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! LET'S GET HIM OUT!"

"COME ON! COME ON! HURRY UP!" Sara exclaimed as she hurriedly took pictures of everything.

"LET'S GO! HURRY UP! GET THE PLASTIC ON!" Nick instructed.

"We're losing everything!" Sara stated to Grissom as she stood next to him after taking photos.

"Yeah. Our killer just got lucky tonight," Grissom remarked.

Insert title credits here

The rain eventually stopped. For how long, the CSIs didn't know. So they were searching the street for any piece of evidence that might have survived the torrential rainfall.

"Well, rain screwed up all our chances of a good DNA profile," Warrick remarked as he noticed the cigarette butt on the ground.

"Don't even bother bagging it," Nick advised as he continued looking with thunder rumbling above him.

"Do we have any eyeballs at all?" Grissom asked as he tried to provide his shivering goddaughter some heat.

"It's a quiet street. Weeknight. Neighbours heard the commotion. Kid over here, he had the only view," Sara answered as they approached a young man sitting on the curb.

"What's your name, son?" Grissom asked.

"Justin Green," he answered as he stood up.

"Well, Justin, my name's Gil Grissom. This is Sara Sidle. We're with the Crime Lab. Is, uh, is that blood on your jacket?" Grissom questioned as he handed Kady to Sara and he shone a light on Justin's jacket.

"No. It's his. The one you took away. I tried to help him. I thought I was doing everything right. I think I might have killed him," Justin rambled.

"Whoa. Slow down," Grissom requested.

"What did you do exactly?" Sara asked.

"I was crossing the street. This SUV came out of nowhere – almost clipped me. I turned and there was this body lying in the street," Justin began.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Justin was walking on the street without a care in the world. Then an SUV appears out of nowhere. It would have hit Justin had he not backed away at the right time. Then he noticed Kevin lying on the street dead._

"_Oh my God. Help! Help! Somebody call 911!" Justin immediately yelled._

_He ran towards Kevin and knelt beside him. Hoping he would be able to save him, he began doing CPR. But he did everything wrong._

_There was nothing he could do.  
><em>_End flashback_

"I freaked. I did everything wrong. I didn't tilt his head back. I-I-I didn't clear his airway," Justin stuttered.

"If it makes you feel any better, that's not what killed him," Grissom revealed.

"Justin…we're going to need to take your clothes," Sara proclaimed.

"Why?" Justin demanded.

"Because there's blood all over them," Sara answered.

* * *

><p>"Catherine?" Sergeant O'Riley greeted as he walked towards Catherine at their latest crime scene.<p>

"Hey," Catherine smiled.

"I like the hair," O'Riley complimented.

"Thanks," Catherine nodded.

"What are you doing here?" O'Riley asked.

"I was assigned. This is my case," Catherine answered.

"Case? The building collapsed. There's nothing criminal here," O'Riley stated.

"Right. That's why you were assigned – a homicide detective. What happened?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Well, part of the basement caved in. Brought the rest down with it," O'Riley told her.

"Body count?" Catherine requested.

"Three old women. Sisters. One minute you're watching Wheel of Fortune. Next thing, game over," O'Riley remarked.

"And you're not calling this building a crime scene?" Catherine asked in disbelief.

"Catherine, it's a building," O'Riley pointed out.

"O'Riley, it's a suspect," Catherine retorted.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Greg," Nick greeted as he walked in with the still-shivering Kady, "You got any spare blankets?"<p>

"In the storage cupboard," Greg answered, "Now shh. I might be looking at the mother of my children here."

"Somebody's been putting in way too much overtime," Nick remarked as he laid Kady on the couch and covered her with the blankets before kissing her on the temple with a loving 'stay warm, baby' before putting on a pair of latex gloves.

"No, man. This is serious. I had a date last night and this girl had has the most impossible green eyes. Just…bam. Shoulder-length blonde hair…intelligent…and she smells so good!" Greg gushed excitedly, "Although, I do miss my goddaughter's smell of strawberries and cream."

"Cute toes?" Nick asked.

"Oh…ideal. And none are longer than the big toe. Both feet. But you know, what I need to know is what's on the inside," Greg remarked.

"Oh, what's in her heart?" Nick guessed.

"No. Her DNA," Greg corrected as he turned back to the microscope, "And let me tell you. This girl has got some fine epithelials."

"Dude, you're sick. Man, you've officially lost it," Nick proclaimed as he began preparing the evidence.

"No, no. There is this guy in Louisville. He charges 300 clams to test your spouse's underwear for foreign DNA. Now that guy is sick. I'm just a romantic," Greg defended, causing Nick to silently agree with him.

"But whatever happened to getting to know someone over coffee? Letting the relationship evolve? Romantic is sending flowers. Not bogarting her skin cells," Nick retorted, "Abby and I did. We ended up getting married. Though…her death did bring an amazing little girl into my life."

"Ahh, that's boring. And not everyone's a hopeless romantic like you," Greg shot back, "Even though you're not wrong about your last statement. What are you doing? What have you got?"

"Um, pulled some hair off of a male stabbing vic," Nick answered.

Greg took over the preparation of the evidence and Nick immediately ran towards his daughter. He wrapped his arms around her and ran his hands over her arms, giving her his body heat. Greg slid the slide under the scope and observed the hair.

"OK. Baby. Uh-huh," Greg muttered as he looked away.

"What?" Nick wanted to know.

"Nine lives," Greg answered.

"Cat hair?" Nick said.

"Meow," Greg nodded.

* * *

><p>"Kevin Shepherd. Six stab wounds to the upper torso – one to the back. Five to the front," Doc Robbins began explaining to Grissom.<p>

"And his wife?" Grissom asked.

"Amy Shepherd. One slice across the neck, right to left," Doc Robbins answered.

"Work of a lefty?" Grissom guessed.

"Well the blade transacted the jugular vein and both carotids," Doc Robbins observed.

"Hard to scream when your throat's been cut," Grissom remarked before turning back to Kevin and noticing something, "Defensive wounds."

"This guy put up one hell of a fight. Attacked with two weapons," Doc Robbins revealed.

"Two?" Grissom repeated in surprise.

"Two types of stab wounds. First a long, sharp double-edged blade. The blade went in smooth, left a little collateral bruising to the skin. Weapon number two was blunt. Weapon number two caused extensive bruising around the points of entry," Doc Robbins explained to him.

"Two weapons…two attackers," Grissom sighed.

* * *

><p>"Hi. District Engineer?" Catherine asked the fireman.<p>

"Over there," he responded.

"Ah. Follow the tie," Catherine remarked as she walked towards the man holding a piece of drywall leaning against the window, "Is that from the rain?"

"Depends on who's asking," Paul Newsome responded as he turned to face Catherine.

"Are you hiding something? Or am I not worth your time?" Catherine asked.

"Excuse me?" Paul said.

"Well, you are the District Engineer of the city, right? You're responsible for the structural safety of this building," Catherine pointed out.

"I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name," Paul apologized as he stood up.

"Catherine Willows. Las Vegas Crime Lab," Catherine introduced herself.

"Crime Lab?" Paul repeated.

"Yeah. The building fell down. Three people were crushed to death," Catherine stated as she approached the wall, "Why is the wood wet?"

"It's a flat-roofed structure. Leeks aren't uncommon. Maybe that explains the dry rot," Paul shrugged.

"Then what am I looking at?" Catherine asked.

"That would be sheetrock," Paul answered.

"Drywall. But what about this layer right here?" Catherine wanted to know.

"When they installed the original drywall, they used the half-inch and then, when they came back and repaired it, they used quarter of an inch," Paul explained.

"What? Was quarter inch on sale that day?" Catherine said in disbelief as she turned around to face him.

"Look, Lady, I don't know what it is…," Paul was cut off.

"Catherine," Catherine corrected.

"Sorry," Paul apologized.

"Don't say sorry. Just know who you're talking to," Catherine advised.

"When they applied the second layer and then they spackled it and they painted it, the difference wasn't noticeable," Paul defended.

"It's noticeable now," Catherine retorted, "Which District Engineer conducted the last inspection?"

"There's only one District Engineer," Paul told her.

"Then it looks bad for you," Catherine remarked.

"OK. Look, uh, Catherine," Paul began as he placed a hand on Catherine's shoulder and led her away from the wall, "Why don't I write a report and then I'll email it to you? How would that be?"

"Where's the point of origin of the collapse?" Catherine asked, causing Paul to go quiet, "Look. This is my crime scene. I can find it myself. But that might mean lots of question to lots of people."

"Well, it's just my, uh, expert opinion. But I'd say right below us – in the basement. The laundry room," Paul answered.

"Then that's where I wanna be," Catherine proclaimed.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Gris. Kevin Shepherd, chiropractor. Amy Shepherd, dentist. House in the lakes. Married eight years. Perfect credit. You know, I'm lost. There's nothing jumping off the page here," Sara stated.<p>

"What about the eyewitness?" Grissom asked.

"Justin Green. First witness. First suspect. But he hung around waiting for us," Sara answered.

"Covered in blood," Grissom added.

"But his story jibes. Several eyewitnesses saw him performing CPR on Kevin Shepherd. But if-if-if it is a carjacking, I don't get it. Why fight to the death? It's four wheels and a chassis," Sara pointed out.

"In the heat of the moment, it's not a car. It's a possession and people will fight without realizing what they're risking," Grissom told her.

"So you are thinking the Shepherds lost their lives for their SUV?" Sara guessed.

"I'm speaking in generalities. Regarding the Shepherds…I'm in the dark too. Just like you," Grissom confessed.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Warrick. Is Grissom around?" Brass asked as he walked in.<p>

"You see him?" Warrick retorted, causing Brass to chuckle and step forward.

"You know, between you and me, as long as I've been on the job, I still don't like touching dead bodies," Brass revealed.

"Well, that's why you got the badge and I got the syringe," Warrick retorted.

"Wow," Brass said softly.

Brass watched as Warrick took moulds of Kevin Shepherd's wounds. Even though, at first, he didn't know that was what Warrick was doing. When Warrick noticed his silence and observation, he figured that he owed the detective an explanation,

"I'm casting the stab wounds. From the moulds, we can identify the murder weapons."

"You're getting more like Grissom everyday, man," Brass remarked.

"Did you want me to give Gris a message?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah. A patrol car located the Shepherds' SUV," Brass answered.

* * *

><p>Brass and Grissom drove on Sunset Road towards where the Shepherd's SUV was found. No sooner than the cars stopped, they ran out towards the SUV and met each other halfway.<p>

"The car's registered to our dead couple," Brass told him.

"When you carjack a car, you keep the car. You don't dump it," Grissom pointed out.

"Unless you're joyriding," Brass retorted.

"Well, who kills for a joyride?" Grissom asked.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Brass remarked.

"Has anyone else touched this vehicle?" Grissom asked the officer.

"No, sir. And I'm the one who found it," the officer answered.

"Just the rain. The evidence on the outside of the vehicle will be compromised," Brass warned.

"Well, maybe there'll be some evidence on the inside," Grissom shrugged.

Grissom opened the car door…and got one of the surprises of his lifetime. A dead body fell out. Grissom yelled out in surprise as he caught the dead woman and gently placed her in the car. His breathing was hard as he tried to prevent a possible heart attack.

"Well, I haven't felt that in a while," Grissom remarked.

"What's that?" Brass asked.

"The element of surprise," Grissom remarked.

"What's she doing here?" Brass asked as they began investigating.

"Good question. Better question: who is she?" Grissom retorted, earning a hum from Brass as he went to go through the woman's bag, "Uh, put some gloves on."

"Yeah, I know. You know, I…I can't believe you messed up the crime scene," Brass stated.

"The body fell out when I opened the door. It happens. We move on," Grissom defended.

"Gonna bother you all day," Brass sing-songed as he took out the woman's driver license, "Jessica Hall. Date of birth: 8/5/73. Cell phone. Power's off. Didn't call 911. They would've instructed her to leave it on."

"Seat belt's unbuckled. That's why she fell out," Grissom observed.

"Yeah. So?" Brass wanted to know.

"Well, she's in the driver seat. Was she driving? Or could she have been placed in here?" Grissom asked.

"Maybe she's like 28% of Americans – she doesn't buckle up," Brass shrugged.

"I think it's 29% actually," Grissom corrected.

"I'll go radio the 419," Brass sighed.

Brass walked away from the crime scene. Moments later, Nick was pulling up in his Tahoe. Immediately, he walked over to the open passenger-sized door and looked inside to see Grissom doing his work. He noticed that Grissom found hair on Jessica's coat lapel.

"Hope you're not allergic there, boss," Nick remarked.

"What?" Grissom demanded in confusion.

"Cat hair. Found similar hair on Kevin Shepherd's clothing," Nick clarified.

"How about Amy Shepherd?" Grissom asked.

"Nope. No hairs on the wife," Nick answered.

"Shepherd's SUV. Stab wound. Cat hair. She's linked to the first crime scene. But how?" Grissom mused.

"Victim number three. Wrong place, wrong time. Saw something she shouldn't," Nick shrugged.

"Well, finally!" Grissom cheered.

"What?" Nick asked in confusion.

"Someone has a theory," Grissom said, earning a nod from Nick before he noticed something else, "And no four-year-old daughter. Where's Kadelin?"

"Back at the lab. I think she's coming down with a cold after that torrential downpour," Nick told him.

"Just tell me you didn't leave her with Greg," Grissom begged.

"There's no one else there to look after her. And she loves her Uncle Greggy," Nick defended himself.

* * *

><p>"Look. I've got guys that are trained to do this. Why don't you let me call them? You're going to go in there, you're going to get that snappy little jumpsuit dirty and…," Paul was cut off.<p>

"No offense. But they work for you," Catherine stated as she secured her headgear.

"So what?" Paul demanded.

"Well, so the victims' family deserves answers," Catherine retorted, earning silence from him, "Somebody's responsible."

"Hey. I didn't do anything wrong," Paul stated.

"Well, maybe not intentionally, but if a ship sinks, the last person who checked for leaks is negligent," Catherine pointed out.

"You're not married, are you?" Paul asked, earning a glare from Catherine as she finished adjusting her gear, "Divorced. OK. Alright. What you see, I'll see. But I just want to go on record. This is a bad idea."

"Thanks for your input," Catherine said sarcastically.

"Alright. We got a hot feed," Paul reported.

"I'm going in," Catherine proclaimed.

"I'll be right here," Paul promised with a sigh.

Catherine approached the wreckage of the building prepared to crawl underneath it all. However, overcoming the protests from Paul Newsome was the easy part of the task. There was still one more person to overcome.

"Catherine? You sure you want to do this?" O'Riley asked.

"Why is everybody asking me if I want to do my job?" Catherine demanded in frustration.

'Because we care," O'Riley immediately answered.

"And?" Catherine pressed.

"The mayor ran on a platform of urban renewal. Clean out the slumlords, create habitual, low-cost housing maintained by the city. If you find so much as a scratch on an asprin in there, you know who it's going to come back to," O'Riley finally confessed.

"I know I have a job to do," Catherine retorted, "Excuse me."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Doc," Sara greeted as she and Grissom entered the fluoroscope observation room where Doc Robbins was watching David work on their recently-discovered body, "What's with the fluoroscope?"<p>

"When we brought the body into the lab, she set off the metal detector," Doc Robbins answered as he referred to Jessica Hall.

"Did you check her pockets?" Grissom asked.

"Nothing in the pockets," Doc Robbins told them.

"What about a pin or a plate? Something metallic on the inside?" Sara suggested.

"I had the same thought. But that's not what we've found. David, take her down," Doc Robbins instructed.

"Yes, sir," David nodded as he did so…and smiled at Sara in the observation room.

"Cause of death: laceration of the liver," Doc Robbins revealed.

"Exsanguination," Sara surmised.

"Once you nick the liver, it's almost impossible to stop the bleeding without immediate medical intervention," Doc Robbins stated.

"Whoa, David! Go back up to the 12th rib, please," Grissom requested as he noticed something.

"I was just getting to that," Doc Robbins sighed.

"Our killer left us a souvenir?" Grissom guessed.

"What is that?" Sara asked.

"What do you leave your waiter?" Grissom retorted.

"A tip," Sara answered before she realized what he meant, "Of a knife."

"How soon can we get that out of the body?" Grissom immediately asked Doc Robbins.

* * *

><p>Catherine made her way through the wreckage of the building on her hands and knees. Her target was the laundry room…or as she had been calling it to Paul during their conversation…<p>

"Am I almost at ground zero?" Catherine asked.

"Almost. About ten more feet. Uh, then you should be in the laundry room. You should have more headroom too," Paul answered.

"I feel like I'm crawling through a straw," Catherine remarked as she stopped at a wood beam and smiled as she noticed the bug crawling across it, "Sweet!"

"What? What is it?" Paul immediately wanted to know.

"Are you getting this?" Catherine beamed as she reached for the bug to place in a jar for Grissom.

"What is that? A roach?" Paul asked.

"I'm not an entomologist. But I know one. He can tell us," Catherine answered before covering her head as the building creaked and concrete particles fell on top of her caused by the object flying overhead, "I thought this building was secure!"

"It is secure. Just hang on. The daily sorties. I think that was an F-16," Paul told her.

"Nellis Air Force Base," Catherine gasped in realization.

"About a mile south of here," Paul added.

"Anything else I should, uh, be aware of?" Catherine asked with a smirk.

"You're in the clear," Paul answered.

"OK," Catherine grunted as she continued crawling through the rubble – having to stop a few times to push bits of wood out of her way – until she finally reached ground zero, "OK. I'm in the laundry room…what's left of it. You want to talk me through this?"

Paul's voice flowed through her earpiece as Catherine was finally able to stand upright. The muscles in her body were screaming in burning pain and exhaustion and relief from the free movement.

"OK. Look up. You should be able to see the beam now," Paul told her.

"Got it," Catherine said as she looked up…and noticed something odd.

"Alright. Connected to the beam running vertically to the concrete foundation are the support columns. Now, in a perfect world, they should be steel but given the age of the building, they might be wood," Paul explained.

"Yeah. It's wood, alright," Catherine agreed, "And it looks like somebody took a sledgehammer to it."

* * *

><p>"So you really pulled this out of a corpse?" Alan Rich asked as he looked up at Brass and Sara who stood before him in his shop showing him the knife tip that was extracted from Jessica Hall's body.<p>

"Yeah," Sara nodded, "But I cleaned it for you."

"We need to know the make of that knife," Brass requested.

"Well, it's not a knife. The tip's double-edged. Bevels on both sides. Downward slope. This came from a dagger which means it's either carbon steel or stainless steel. I get asked this question more than you think," Alan remarked as he pulled out a lemon juice squirt container and placed a few drops on the tip.

"Acid in the lemon juice should react to carbon steel. But not stainless steel," Sara clarified for the confused Brass.

"How's a cop know all this?" Alan asked.

"He's the cop. I'm the scientist," Sara corrected.

"I got a cop question. What are we looking for here?" Brass wanted to know.

"Dark spots," Alan answered.

They checked the tip of the blade they extracted and noticed something unusual about it. Dark spots.

"Carbon steel," Sara stated, "What's next?"

"Length," Alan answered as he retrieved a ruler and a piece of paper from behind the counter, "Daggers are rarely more than an inch at the base. We got the tip. So we can fill in the rest. It's basic geometry."

Alan placed the tip of the dagger on the paper and used his ruler to perfectly extend the tip into a full-on dagger.

"It's five inches. Top row – five-inch daggers, carbon steel," Alan revealed as he took out one, "This is the one you want. $24.99. We don't take credit cards."

"Yeah," Brass muttered as he felt his wallet twitch at the sound of losing money.

* * *

><p>"Forget Shepherd's wife. I can't match the slash marks. It's all about these stab wounds. So I concentrated on Kevin Shepherd," Warrick explained to Grissom as he showed him the castings he did of the stab wounds.<p>

"This is a nice job, Warrick. You know, casting is an art," Grissom complimented after examining them.

"And while the artist was at work, Brass and I identified Jessica Hall's murder weapon from the tip we found lodged in her ribs. It's a dagger. Fugasi model 502," Sara announced as she walked into the layout room and handed said dagger to Grissom.

"Cool," Warrick commented.

"So we've identified the weapon used on Jessica Hall. Was it also used on Kevin Shepherd?" Grissom asked as he, in turn, handed the dagger to Warrick.

"Well, I measured all the sharp points of entry on Kevin's body. They're all identical. They're all made from the same murder weapon," Warrick began as he drew the outline of the dagger on a piece of paper.

"So if this dagger matches your mould…," Sara trailed off as Warrick handed her a comparison and noted the match, "OK. We just put the sharp wounds to bed."

"Identified murder weapon number one. Now we just need that second murder weapon," Warrick stated.

"Points of impact on these two are blunt, right?" Sara asked.

"Yeah. Who stabs someone with a blunt instrument?" Warrick pondered.

"Sara, you still have the dagger tip from the body?" Grissom suddenly asked.

"Yeah," Sara nodded as she handed the tip to him.

"And you have the cast of the unidentified murder weapon," Grissom turned to Warrick.

"Yeah," Warrick agreed as he handed him the cast.

"A dagger's not a diamond. It doesn't last forever," Grissom stated as Warrick matched the unidentified weapon to the tip, "We don't have two weapons."

"So he started with Kevin and then he went after Jessica and then the tip broke off," Warrick realized.

"And then he went back to Kevin to finish the job," Sara added.

"One weapon, one killer," Grissom surmised.

* * *

><p>Catherine and Grissom found themselves sitting together in Grissom's office going over Catherine had from the collapsed building case. Catherine was going over the camera footage. Grissom, as an entomologist, was more interested in the bug she had collected from the rubble than the footage.<p>

"An anobiid powder-post beetle. Very nice specimen," Grissom observed.

"He likes you too," Catherine joked, "Now tell me about him."

"Your building collapsed," Grissom said.

"You assigned me the case. You already know that," Catherine stated.

"Well this little guy confirms it. This species of beetle eats softwood. Tell me everything about the building," Grissom requested.

"The frame's made of Douglas Fir," Catherine began.

"A delicacy," Grissom remarked.

"I did find more than a bug. Dry rot, questionable repairs, a jittery engineer. And check this out," Catherine went on as she showed Grissom the footage.

"Forget the beetle. This damage was intentional. You're looking for a homosapian," Grissom proclaimed.

"I know. Gives new meaning to home wrecker," Catherine remarked.

"Catherine, there's a reason I assigned you this case. You're good with people. Both the living and the dead," Grissom complimented.

"Translation: we're open a political can of worms. The mayor's involved, an election's around the corner and you could've clued me in a little earlier," Catherine said dryly as she began gathering everything.

"Can I keep it?" Grissom asked Catherine eagerly, referring to the beetle.

"Sorry. It's evidence," Catherine apologised as Grissom handed her the container with a pout.

"Don't forget to feed him," Grissom pleaded.

"I know. Wood," Catherine smirked.

* * *

><p>"Oh yeah. I got three prints on this gearshift and they are beauties," Warrick whistled as he and Sara processed the SUV in the garage.<p>

"Sweaty palms make the best prints," Sara pointed out just as Grissom walked into the garage.

"The coroner just sent over a ten card of Jessica Hall's fingerprints. Evidently, I'm the new delivery boy," Grissom proclaimed as he noticed Warrick taking photos of the printed gearshift, "Are you doing what I think you're doing?"

"If we find what we're looking for, the answer is yes," Sara answered as she turned the light on, "Can I see those prints?"

"The images are printing," Warrick announced.

"Thanks," Sara thanked Grissom as she accepted the ten card and began comparing the prints to the photos of the printed gearshift Warrick took, "No need for AFIS. We got a visual match. All three prints belong to victim number three."

"What does that give us? We know she was stabbed at the crime scene. But then what? Was she driving herself to the hospital? Was she under duress?" Sara pondered as Nick walked into the garage.

"None of the above," Nick answered, causing everyone to turn and look at him, "Hey, Grissom. You know that theory I had?"

"Yeah," Grissom nodded.

"I'd like to revise it," Nick said.

"It's a scientist's right to re-examine his theory with each new piece of evidence, Nick," Grissom stated.

"My evidence is in the layout room," Nick told them.

* * *

><p>Moments later, they were all in the layout room. Numerous photos and evidence bags lay on the table. Kady was asleep in Nick's arms; something she has been doing a lot lately. Grissom, Warrick and Sara were listening carefully to Nick's theory, hanging on to every word he said.<p>

"All the wounds sustained by Kevin Shepherd were to his torso. Now look at this," Nick began as he singlehandedly removed a shoe from the evidence bag, placed it on a piece of paper and slid it across the table towards Grissom and Sara, "Blood flow on the left instep of Kevin Shepherd's shoe."

"Lucky for us, the rain missed that," Warrick remarked.

"When death is not immediate, a victim will instinctively curl up into a foetal position. Which may have protected this from the rain," Grissom pointed out.

"Preserving the blood pattern," Sara added.

"You expect blood on a victim. But let's ask the question: could the normal action and behaviour of the victim have put his blood there?" Grissom asked.

"The victim was lying on the ground. Wounds above the waist. It's not Kevin's blood," Sara realized.

"Who else had a flowing wound?" Warrick wanted to know.

"Amy Shepherd was too far away. But Jessica Hall was alive and bleeding," Nick recalled.

"OK. How did her blood get on his shoe?" Grissom challenged.

"Gravity. Warrick, please, on the floor. Your back," Nick requested as he headed towards the floor space in front of the door.

"Man, why are you always trying to put me down?" Warrick whined as Sara smiled.

"Sara, you're Jessica," Nick proclaimed, causing Sara's smile to immediately drop, "Come on now."

"OK," Sara sighed as Warrick lied on the ground and Sara stood over him.

"Alright. I'm bleeding from my abdomen," Warrick said.

"Standing here, I'm not going to get that much blood on Warrick," Sara pointed out.

"Get closer," Grissom advised.

"Well, I can't without…stepping on him," Sara retorted.

"You can if you kneel down," Grissom retorted.

"Why would she do that?" Warrick demanded.

"Possibly to help or hinder," Grissom shrugged as Sara knelt near Warrick's feet.

"I say hinder," Nick remarked as he knelt as well.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Kevin Shepherd fought valiantly against his assailant. Jessica was assisting by holding Kevin down so he would struggle less. At some point during the attack, the assailant went to subdue Kevin. But he ended up accidentally stabbing Jessica in the process, causing the tip of the dagger to break off inside of her._

"_Grab his legs!" he yelled at her._

_Jessica immediately scrambled to Kevin's feet, pinning him down by grabbing his ankles roughly. Unknown to either of them, blood flowed freely from Jessica's stab wound…_

_And onto Kevin's shoes.  
><em>_End flashback_

"She was in on it. She held him down while someone else stabbed him," Nick surmised.

"By the positioning of her wound, I'd say it looked like her stabbing was an accident," Warrick remarked.

"Stabbings are messy and inexact. So victim number three becomes suspect number two," Sara proclaimed.

"Nick, get a warrant to Jessica Hall's apartment. We'll see if suspect number two brings us to suspect number one. And bring a scorecard with you," Grissom instructed.

* * *

><p>"Can, uh, can I give you a hand with that?" Paul asked Catherine as she grabbed something from the top shelf of the temporary evidence vault.<p>

"Nope," Catherine shook her head as she climbed down and noticed Paul standing there, "How did you get in here?"

"Well, I flashed my city I.D and, uh, my smile," Paul answered with a smile; something that didn't impress Catherine, "What are we looking for?"

"A lot of factors contributed to the collapse. I'm focusing on the human element," Catherine told him as she took out the wood beam she collected, "Now…if a sledgehammer was taken to this column recently, there'd be evidence of discoloration. The damaged part would be lighter."

"May I?" Paul asked as he held out his hand.

Catherine straightened up and handed the scope she had been using over to Paul. He leaned down and got a closer look at the wood. He went to touch it. But Catherine stopped him.

"Hands off," Catherine warned.

"Oh, right. Sorry," Paul apologized, "No. No discoloration."

He straightened up and handed the scope back to Catherine. Catherine bent down and went to have a look for herself so she could prove his claim. However, Paul stopped her.

"Would you like to know why?" Paul asked.

"Yeah," Catherine nodded.

"Five years ago, the building was apartment Vietnam. The facility was substandard. The city turned its back on it. The tenants revolted. Black Neferson, apartment 204, took a sledgehammer to that column. It's public record. He was arrested," Paul explained as he handed the file over.

"Public record? And you failed to indicate the damage in your inspection report?" Catherine asked him in disbelief.

"There wasn't enough damage to cause concern," Paul defended.

"Tell that to the women who were crushed to death," Catherine retorted.

* * *

><p>"I heard the lab matched the blood on Kevin Shepherd's shoe to Jessica. My theory's getting better and better," Nick boasted as he walked into the apartment carrying Kady in his arms with Brass and Grissom as company.<p>

"Not so fast, Nicholas. P.D traced a call Shepherd made to Jessica from Andre's restaurant," Brass announced.

"What's he doing calling the woman who helped kill him?" Nick asked.

"It's your theory, pal," Grissom retorted as he took note of numerous post-it note reminders, "Our little Jessica was a prolific note-taker. 'Be a good person today.'"

"Yeah, right. Try not to kill too many people," Brass scoffed as he took Kady from Nick's arms into his own, despite the protests from the single father.

"'Cancel water cooler delivery.' 'Plan girl's night out.' 'Light bulbs for porch,'" Grissom read.

"I think I found a keypiece of evidence," Nick remarked as he walked in carrying a red tabby cat who was protesting the idea of being in Nick's arms, "The redhead we've been looking for."

"Red hairs on Jessica. She owns a tabby cat. Red hairs on Shepherd," Grissom recalled.

"Chances are Shepherd was here without his wife," Nick pointed out.

"Yeah. I'm going to run Jessica's cell phone records and Shepherd's. If anything was between those two, we'll find out," Brass promised as he kissed Kady on the cheek and handed her back to Nick after he put the cat down muttering, 'See ya, Sharpie,' before turning to the Officer at the door, "Stay here, fella."

"To access Achex, double-check icon. Username: Jessica. Password: money," Nick read aloud, causing Grissom, Nick and Kady to gaze at each other unsure.

"Try it," Grissom and Kady suggested.

"Yeah," Nick nodded as he sat down with Kady in his lap and powered the computer on, "Achex. Personal online banking. Deposits, checking, money transfers; everything under the sun."

Nick obeyed the instructions that were written on one of the many post-it notes on the monitor. When he was done, he wrapped one arm around Kady as she snuggled into his chest and planted a kiss on her head.

"OK. I'm in. Direct deposit from Beaumont's department store. $500 a week. Probably her paycheck," Nick shrugged.

"And then a $35000 day?" Grissom observed.

"What? She win the lottery?" Nick guessed.

"How does a girl who makes $2000 a month pull in $35000…only to give it away on the same day?" Grissom asked.

"Let's see who she gave it to," Kady suggested.

"It hasn't posted yet," Grissom pointed out.

"No luck," Nick sighed in disappointment.

"Wait. Go back," Grissom suddenly instructed.

Nick went back and the three read the screen that appeared….mostly Nick and Grissom. Kady, being only four years old, couldn't read the words or understand what they meant.

"_We have initiated a deposit of Achex payment into your bank checking account. Time of deposit: 10:02 AM_

_Deposit Confirmation: 174976_

_March 28 2001_

_Pay to the Order of: JESSICAL HALL_

_$35,000.00_

_Transfer from: KEVIN SHEPHERD 17568932_

_If you should like to keep a paper copy of this transaction, simply click on the PRINT button on your browser._

_Please note: As with check that you deposit, Achex payments must still be cleared by your bank before the money becomes available for spending. Typically it takes two days for deposited funds to become available. Your bank can tell you more precisely the time it will take for your Achex payment to clear._"

"Well, we know who she got it from – Kevin Shepherd," Grissom pointed out.

"Wait a minute. Shepherd paid Jessica to murder him and his wife?" Nick said in disbelief.

"Maybe. Maybe not," Grissom shrugged, causing Nick and Kady to look up at him confused, "We can't speak from the evidence, you two. And everybody else is dead."

* * *

><p>"I took this from our suspect's apartment," Nick proclaimed as he handed a notepad to Ronnie Litre who immediately begins working.<p>

"Husband and wife carjacking. I heard about the case. My friend and I eat at Andre's. Creepy," Ronnie remarked.

"Don't cancel your next reservation. It wasn't a carjacking," Nick told him as he bounced Kady a little on his hip.

"Well, it's a fresh pad. Only a couple of pages are missing. Let's see what she wrote on those missing pages," Ronnie suggested.

It was a long process. But Ronnie was finally able to determine what Jessica had written on those missing pages.

"Quarters for laundry. Not incriminating. Pay parking ticket. Andre's at 9:00 PM?" Nick read before the realization hit him, "WHOA!"

* * *

><p>"Andre's, 9:00 P.M. Green SUV. Corner of 6th. Sunday. K's office. 8:00 A.M. This is a blueprint for murder," Grissom stated as he read the notes.<p>

"Assuming K is Kevin, they were planning to meet three days after he was murdered," Nick pointed out.

"He paid Jessica $35000. He called her as he was leaving the restaurant. He wasn't supposed to die," Grissom began to realize.

"No. Neither was Jessica," Nick added.

"Kevin Shepherd took a hit out on his wife and something went wrong. And we may have the proof," Grissom proclaimed.

"OK. We've got the blueprint and Kevin Shepherd's credit card receipt from Andre's. OK. Now, normally, a signature wouldn't give us much. But look at the K on the receipt. Now look at the K in Kay's office. OK? Also, look at the S in SUV and Sunday. Now look at the S in Shepherd. Both letters are identical. He wrote both of these documents," Ronnie told Nick and Grissom.

"I think Shepherd planned the murder of his wife," Grissom said.

"I'm with you. Why'd he end up dead?" Nick asked.

"Bad karma. Jessica and this Shepherd guy had been phoning each other day and night for the past two years," Brass piped in, "What does that tell you?"

"They had a very healthy relationship," Grissom surmised.

"He was cheating on his wife, Amy," Nick realized.

"He's a scumbag?" Kady guessed, causing Nick to gape at her and Grissom to choke on laughter. Yes. Laughter.

"Kadelin Taylor Stokes, what is Uncle Greggy teaching you?" Nick demanded.

"Actually, Nick, that one was my bad," Brass confessed sheepishly before changing the subject, "And there's more. On the night of the murder, after Jessica got off the phone with Shepherd, she made a call."

"To who?" Grissom asked.

* * *

><p>"Grissom didn't say what he was looking for, huh?" Sara guessed as she and Warrick walked into the drying room.<p>

"No," Warrick answered as Sara began checking the tags, "He just said check his clothes. Drying room. Six years in the job and it still freaks me out in here."

"I think it's peaceful," Sara confessed.

"Yeah," Warrick muttered as he finally found the tag that they were looking for, "Here we go. Here we go. Justin Green. The eyewitness."

"He's a suspect? When did that happen?" Sara asked as Warrick held up the jacket.

"Here's another thing the rain's ruined – the blood pattern on Justin's jacket," Warrick observed.

"Not the t-shirt," Sara retorted as she examined the shirt and noticed something odd, "Warrick… What does that look like to you?"

"That looks like a handprint," Warrick pointed out as he held his hand over the print, "Right hand. Justin's?"

"Wrist doesn't bend that way," Sara stated.

"So it's not Justin's," Warrick surmised.

"We know where Jessica's hands were," Sara said.

"Holding down Kevin's feet," Warrick recalled.

"And Amy Shepherd died instantly," Sara added.

"So whose handprint is that?" Warrick asked.

* * *

><p>"Kevin Shepherd's. This is a transparency of Kevin Shepherd's defence wounds," Grissom later answered as he fitted the transparencies together, "They fit perfectly over the handprint on Justin's shirt."<p>

"Justin's story was that he performed CPR on Kevin Shepherd," Sara remembered Justin's statement.

"Yeah. But Kevin grabbed Justin's shirt so that means he was still breathing," Warrick retorted.

"Which means he didn't need CPR," Nick realized.

"We just put the dagger in Justin Green's hand," Grissom proclaimed.

"Damn it. Justin sold me a lie and I bought it," Sara grumbled.

* * *

><p>Catherine walked out of the collapsed building and under the crime scene tape. She had conducted another examination of the building and she was leaving as close to solving the case as she was at the start…which wasn't far. She noticed the make-shift memorial that the community had set up for the three women that had died in the collapse. Candles, flowers, cards; everything that people would need to make a memorial.<p>

Above her, another aircraft flew by, en route towards Nellis Air Force Base.

That was when she figured out what happened.

* * *

><p>"What are you doing?" Paul asked, referring to the experiment Catherine was setting up in the CSI Garage.<p>

"Proving that you're not responsible for what happened to that building," Catherine answered.

"I'm growing on you, aren't I?" Paul smirked.

Ignoring his remark, Catherine began explaining the experiment, "The damaged support column buckled. Why?"

"The weight of the building wasn't evenly distributed out to the load-bearing walls by the joists," Paul answered.

"Good. We're on the same page. Now I put a section of the floor assembly in the tank. I added a dozen or so of rubber balls owned by my daughter and goddaughter, two sub-woofers," Catherine was cut off.

"You put the whole thing on vibration isolators," Paul observed.

"Exactly. Because I suspect that sound vibrations may be the ultimate cause of the collapse," Catherine finished explaining as she turned on the player.

Paul's ears were greeted by the very familiar classical music. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, First Movement, allegro con brio.

"Are you saying Beethoven brought down the building?" Paul asked.

"No. But, uh, maybe F-16s and whatever else they're flying out of Nellis Air Force Base," Catherine answered as she turned up the volume, "Now I ramped up the decibels on the stereo to maximize the vibrations."

"Now you've lost me," Paul confessed.

"Watch the bouncing balls," was all Catherine said as she pointed to the nails in the wooden beam that were beginning to vibrate and rotate, "The nails are rotating. Like screws. Righty, tighty. Lefty, loosey."

"Of course. Loose nails, bounce in the joints," Paul said.

"Multiply that by 50 years of flybys," Catherine challenged.

They could see it. They could see the building when it was first built. Then they say fifty years and even more planes passing by as the building began to show wear and tear. Then…they reached the collapse.

"So you're pointing the," Paul began loudly, until Catherine turned the music off, "So you're pointing the finger at the Air Force?"

"No. You point one finger, there's always gonna be four pointing back at you. Beetles, sabotage, dry rot and time," Catherine retorted.

"Am I off the hook?" Paul asked.

"Yes," Catherine nodded, causing Paul to smile and turn to examine the experiment, "Anything you wanna say to me?"

"Could've saved yourself a lot of trouble by not making me a suspect in the first place," Paul smiled knowingly before walking away.

"You're welcome," Catherine said sarcastically.

* * *

><p>"OK. Jim got us a court order for production of documents. On the left, the phone records of Kevin Shepherd, Amy Shepherd, Jessica Hall and Justin Green. On the right, their banking records," Grissom said.<p>

Sara immediately hit the computer, highlighting the $35000 transaction between Jessica and Kevin. Immediately, she got up the same confirmation sheet Nick and Grissom got when they executed a warrant in Jessica's apartment.

"Wednesday. 10:02. Kevin transferred $35000 to his mistress, Jessica. Wednesday 2:16 P.M," Sara started.

"Jessica transferred the money out of her account. To Justin Green?" Grissom finished in confusion.

"_We have initiated a deposit of Achex payment into your bank checking account._

_Time of deposit: 2:16 P.M._

_Deposit Confirmation: 9721_

_March 28 2001_

_Pay to the Order of: JUSTIN GREEN $35,000.00_

_Transfer from: JESSICA HALL 17362551_"

"Yes. Deposit for $35000," Sara agreed with Grissom.

"Well, if this was a straight-on hit for hire, Jessica would've steered clear of the crime scene," Grissom pointed out.

"Maybe not. In 1997, Jessica and Justin had a joint account. And they shared the same last name," Nick revealed, indicating that Jessica and Justin were once married.

"Whew. Curveball," Warrick remarked.

"So Jessica hired her ex-husband to kill her boyfriend's wife," Brass surmised.

"All in the family," Grissom remarked.

"I can trump that. Sorry, Nick," Sara apologized before going on, "Thursday, 11:09 A.M. $70000 was transferred to Justin Green's account."

"From?" Warrick pressed.

"Not Jessica. Not Kevin," was all Sara said.

"Only one left is Amy," Grissom pointed out.

"Yes. That's affirmative. I can trump that. Wednesday, 3:00 P.P. Justin called Amy Shepherd," Warrick read the phone records.

"Oh, I bet I can tell you that conversation," Brass remarked.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Amy was standing in a parking lot next to her car. Her cell phone was held up to her ear, indicating that she was in the middle of a phone call. The person on the other end of the line was Justin._

"_Do you really expect me to believe that?" Amy asked._

"_Yeah. Look, you've got to know about the affair. Check his back account. He paid out 35. You want to counter?" Justin offered.  
><em>_End flashback_

"Amy Shepherd does the unthinkable. She doubles it," Sara surmised.

"Why kill one when you can collect over 100 grand?" Grissom asked.

"Makes financial sense," Brass shrugged.

"And Justin secures his double cross with an insurance policy. He eliminates the person that hired him. Jessica wasn't stabbed by accident. She was a loose end," Grissom realized.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Justin was standing on the curb near the SUV but in a way that wouldn't be deemed suspicious. He was waiting for Kevin and Amy with a cigarette between his fingers. As he let out a puff of smoke, he noticed Kevin and Amy walking out of the restaurant like a couple madly in love._

"_Eight years. People said we wouldn't last. Happy anniversary," Kevin beamed to his wife._

"_Happy anniversary," Amy responded lovingly._

_Justin flicked the cigarette away and approached Amy from behind before slitting her throat. With the bloodied knife in his hand, he approached Kevin with Jessica standing behind Kevin._

"_It's over, man. It's over," Justin proclaimed before looking at Jessica and saying, "Look. You better split. Go call 911."_

_Jessica and Kevin turned around and prepared to walk away. Justin wasn't going to let that happen. He immediately stabbed Kevin in the back, causing Kevin to fall onto the road. Immediately, Jessica tried to stop her ex-husband from doing the unthinkable for the second time that night._

_"Stop! What are you doing?" Jessica screamed at him._

_"Shut up, you slut!" Justin retorted as he stabbed Jessica, causing her to fall down, and turning to face Kevin again, "She's always going to be my wife. You're never going to have her!" Jessica went to stop Justin again, "Get away from me!"_

_Justin went back to what he was doing, which was stabbing Kevin to death. Jessica immediately grabbed her back and drove off in Kevin's SUV. Justin noticed after he finished the job. However, he had a new problem. A dog owner was standing there with his barking dog watching the scene. Justin immediately had the chance to play hero to cover up his crime._

'_Call an ambulance!" he instructed the owner before pretending to give Kevin CPR.  
><em>_End of flashback_

"Jessica took the car. You hid in plain sight offering aid to the victim," Brass surmised their theory to Justin in the interview room.

"Normally, when they pay to have someone killed, they do it so they're not connected to the crime. Why was Jessica even there?" Grissom asked.

Justin didn't say anything. However, Grissom and Brass didn't need him to say anything. Because his silence spoke volumes. Knowing they wouldn't get anything out of him, the two left.

"Timmy," Brass indicated to the officer to go inside as they walked out into the hallway, "The Shepherds – to the world, they looked like the perfect couple."

"You know what they say about looks," Grissom remarked.

"They can be deceiving?" Brass guessed.

"They can kill," Grissom corrected.

* * *

><p>Nick sat on the floor next to Kady's bed. Tiredness was threatening to overcome him. But he kept fighting. He kept watching the little girl that was curled up in the sheets shivering. True to his word, Kady ended up with a cold after the night out in the rain. And like he always did whenever his baby's sick, he never leaves her side. He found it hard to. And he never wanted to try. His daughter needed him. He'd be there.<p>

"Hey, butterfly. You awake?" Nick gently whispered as he gently shook her.

"I'm tired," Kady moaned as she shifted away from him.

"I know, baby. I know," Nick murmured as he stood up and held her – blanket and all – in his arms, "But you have to have that special stuff."

Nick had to try his hardest not to laugh at how adorable Kady looked when she scrunched her face. She hated the medicine Nick would have her take whenever she got sick. But she didn't protest as much as other kids normally did because she knew it helped her get better.

Making sure she was warm, he placed Kady on the bench while he got the medicine out. When he poured some of it onto a spoon, he stood in front of Kady and noticed she was falling asleep. Nick couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head. If she could, she'd fall asleep standing up. His schedule takes its toll on both of them – mostly Nick because he's the one balancing his work and family life on very thin lines. But they fight valiantly.

"Come on, Kadelin. Please. Just take this and you can fall asleep, OK?" Nick promised as he fed Kady the medicine.

"Eugh!" Kady screwed her face as the medicine ran down her throat.

"Come on. Back to bed," Nick playfully grunted as he scooped her in his arms.

Something that he noticed when he returned to her room was that she had fallen asleep in his arms. This was one of the moments that Nick treasured. Because he knew that when she grows up, there wouldn't be as many moments like these. If not, at all.

"Sleep well, butterfly," Nick murmured as he tucked her in and gave her butterfly and Eskimo kisses.

He fell asleep by her bedside.

* * *

><p><strong>Think of it as a prelude for the next story and what happens at the end.<strong>

**BYE!**


	20. Gentle, Gentle

**Gentle, Gentle: The infant child of a rich family is kidnapped in the middle of the night, causing Grissom and his team to launch an investigation which becomes personal. However, the evidence reveals not much about the kidnapping but that the family is hiding something; something that will potentially cause the case to take a darker turn.**

**Next, Sounds of Silence: A deaf man was run over by a car, leaving Grissom, Sara and Warrick to figure out what happened leading up to his death and who killed him after discovering that he was already dying before being run over. The case also reveals a secret about Grissom that no one (except Kady) knew about. Catherine and Nick are investigating an apparent mob hit in a local coffee shop that resulted in the deaths of five people.**

**Then, Justice is Served: A jogger is gruesomely killed during a vicious dog attack in the park. When they begin to investigate, Grissom, Nick and Warrick discover that his liver was surgically removed just moments later. Meanwhile, Sara grows concerned when Catherine gets emotionally involved in their case, which involves the death of a six-year-old girl on a carnival ride.**

**Later, Evaluation Day: Grissom reaches the day he has to evaluate the members of his team. However, the cases that are thrown at the Graveyard shift delay him from the evaluations. Along with Catherine, he deals with the discovery of a severed head in the trunk of a car while Sara and Nick travel to the desert to investigate a headless body that appears to fell from the sky. Warrick is in charge of a murder in a juvenile detention centre where his young friend James is the only witness.**

**Followed by, Strip Strangler: During the season one finale, a signature killer is torturing, raping and killing young women who are single parents to daughters under the age of five before brutally killing their daughters. Grissom and his team lead the investigations. However, they find catching the Strip Strangler to be a challenge as their killer possesses satisfactory knowledge of forensic science to leave very little to no forensic evidence behind. Much to Grissom's dismay, the Sheriff decides to involve the FBI. The anger that Nick and Grissom share will only grow when they want to use Sara and Kady as bait.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>All was quiet in the residential area of Las Vegas. No bright lights disturbing the residents. No sounds of cheers as gamblers won at the casinos. No loud music from the many nightclubs. Just…peace.<p>

Gwen Anderson gasped as she bolted upright in her bed. Slowly, she slid out of the warm comforts of her bed and quietly walked down the hallway, leaving her husband in bed. She went into the nursery. Expecting to look down into the crib and find her young son, Zachary, inside waiting to be fed. Only…

She didn't find him.

Maternal instinct rocketed as Gwen felt all around the sheets as if she wasn't believing this. When she removed the sheets to look underneath, she noticed the sheet of paper lying there. Her eyes drank every word typed on that paper. When she was finished, the paper slipped from her grasp into the cot.

She ran to the window, which was wide open and there was a ladder standing against the wall. Immediately, she knew. Someone had broken into the house in the middle of the night…

And taken her son.

"NO!" she screamed in anguish, feeling the pain a mother always feels whenever she loses a child.

Her husband, Steve, heard her screams and rushed into the nursery, fearing that something was wrong with her son. Immediately, he looked into the crib and noticed the note. Immediately, he knew what they had to do.

* * *

><p>Officers were parked in the driveway as Grissom walked up and checked in with the officer. When he reached the foyer, he immediately greeted the distraught Andersons.<p>

"Excuse me. My name's Gil Grissom. I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab," Grissom introduced himself.

"Please help us," Gwen pleaded him.

"I'll certainly try," Grissom promised as he placed his kit on the ground, "Is that the ransom note?"

"Yeah. They don't even say how much money they want. They just say that they'll call us in six hours," Steve answered as he handed Grissom the note.

"_I have your son._

_I don't want to harm him._

_Don't make me._

_I'll call in six hours with instructions._

_I advise you not to call the police._"

"Have you let anyone else touch this note? Police? A relative? Anyone?" Grissom asked.

"N-no. Just us. Why?" Steve immediately wanted to know.

"Well, because the person who touched it before you has your son. And he's just left us the first piece of the puzzle," was Grissom's answer.

Insert title credits here

"Jim, dispatch said this is a kidnapping? Divorce situation?" Catherine asked Brass as she arrived at the crime scene.

"No papers filed. College sweethearts. Neighbours say they're the salt of the earth," Brass answered.

"So this could have been legitimate?" Catherine guessed.

"They have a security system. But they never put it on," Brass told her.

"They say how come?" Catherine wanted to know.

"They feel safe in the neighbourhood," was Brass' answer.

"Check the premises?" Catherine asked.

"Attic, wine cellar, crawl space; no four-month-old baby," Brass responded.

"Nice digs," Catherine whistled as they entered the house.

"Yeah. Guy got rich off some dot-com outfit. Moved here from Oregon two years ago," Brass explained.

"Bet they wished they hadn't today," Catherine remarked.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure he won't hear a click or something?" Steve asked the FBI agent who was explaining what he should do for when he receives the ransom call.<p>

"He won't. And if he asks, you and your wife are alone. Question him about your son. Ask to hear him breathing. Anything to keep the guy talking. Understood?" he instructed Steve.

"I don't know. Yeah, yeah," Steve nodded as Grissom noticed the soda bottle in the kitchen, "OK. Built my own business. I can handle any kind of pressure."

"Was this yours?' Grissom asked.

"Yeah," Steve responded.

"May I ask when you opened it?" Grissom wanted to know.

"I don't know. Um, sometime after we called 911," Steve shrugged.

"You mind if I, uh…?" Grissom trailed off as he gestured to the soda bottle.

"No. Go ahead," Steve invited him.

Grissom picked up the bottle and placed his gloved hand over the mouth whilst looking around. He also checked the temperature gauge, noticing something suspicious. Steve watched Grissom's moves carefully. As if he was a suspect waiting to be caught out.

"You have any more of these?" Grissom asked.

"In the fridge," Steve answered.

"Thanks," Grissom thanked before leaving the kitchen.

* * *

><p>"Do my boys have to be here?" Gwen asked Brass as they sat in the living room for questioning, "I think this is hard enough for them without having to hear the facts."<p>

"I understand. But it's best for our investigation if we keep the whole family together," Brass told them.

"It's OK, mum," Tyler reassured her quietly.

"You were saying, Mrs Anderson?" Brass pressed.

"Um…I got up at 4:30 like I usually do to feed Zack. I'm still breast-feeding. And I went down to Zacky's room. I looked into his crib and he was gone. He wasn't there," Gwen was telling Brass as Steve walked in and sat next to her, "And I felt around for him and that's when I found the letter saying that he had been taken and I…I don't know. I-I think I screamed."

"You screamed, mum," Tyler confirmed her statement.

"I jumped out of bed and I went to her. And that's when we called 911 from the upstairs hallway," Steve added.

"9111," Robbie Anderson read aloud as he played with the phone.

"Give me the phone, Robbie. Give me the phone," Tyler requested as he took the phone from his four-year-old brother.

"We're going to need a piece of the baby's clothing. Something from his hamper, if possible. We're going to use scent dogs throughout the neighbourhood," Grissom told them.

"I'll go see what I can find," Steve sighed.

"No. I know what he wears," Gwen pointed out as she stood up.

"I'll go with you," Catherine decided as they left the room.

"I'd also like to get blood samples from each family member," Grissom requested.

"Why?" Steve demanded.

"Well, the sooner we can eliminate the expected hairs and fibres from within the household, we can begin looking for outsiders," Grissom explained.

"Is it going to hurt?" Tyler asked nervously.

"I hope not," Grissom answered honestly.

* * *

><p>Moments later, the scent dogs arrived with their officers ready to search the neighbourhood. Sara and the rest of the team had arrived as well by the time Grissom walked out carrying the ransom note and two bottles of soda pop.<p>

"Sara," Grissom began.

"Yeah?" Sara responded.

"Take this ransom note to QD," he requested as he handed the note to her.

"Typewritten ransom note? Kidnapper was organized," Sara remarked after she read over the note.

"I think it's in-jet. Not typewriter," Grissom confessed.

"I'll get it to questioned documents, check for origination prints; the works," Sara promised.

"Take every computer and printer from the Anderson house with you," Grissom also instructed.

"You think the suspect printed the ransom note from inside the house while they were sleeping?" Sara asked.

"I'm not thinking anything yet," Grissom retorted before walking to Nick and Kady, "Nick. Hey, alligator."

"Hi, tadpole," Kady greeted.

"Yo," Nick responded as he noticed the soda bottles, "No thanks. I'm an iced tea man."

"It's not a refreshment. It's an experiment. Take this to the lab in a controlled space, 72 degrees Fahrenheit and open it. Keep this in the same room-temp space," Grissom requested.

"OK. Then what?" Nick asked.

"Process, Nick. Process," was Grissom's answer as he took Kady.

"Are you serious?" Nick moaned as he removed his daughter from Grissom's grasp, "Two minutes?"

"Be quick," Grissom sighed.

Nick was quick. He gave Kady butterfly and Eskimo as well as an actual kiss and a hug before handing her back to Grissom and leaving as Grissom held Kady and went up to Warrick.

"Baby's bedroom window is open and the ladder's still out there. So canvass the whole grounds from outside to in," Grissom instructed.

"I'm all over it like a cheap suit," Warrick promised, "Can I take Elmo?"

"No," Grissom answered as he tightened his possessive hold on her, earning a pout from Warrick.

"Next case, she's mine," Warrick decreed.

"You'd have to talk to Nick about that one. Remember what happened last time you took her with you on your case without telling Nick?" Grissom retorted.

"He's still to let me live that down," Warrick grumbled.

* * *

><p>Grissom walked into Zack's nursery and set both his kit and his four-year-old goddaughter down. He held a finger to Kady, indicating her to stay by his kit as he approached the crib. Leaning over, he peered inside the crib as if he was expecting to find the baby lying there. Only…he remembered the situation that had called him to the Anderson house to begin with. The baby that occupied this crib is meant to be missing.<p>

"You see this spiderweb?"

Grissom jumped and turned towards the window where he saw Warrick standing on the ladder outside the window. Kady's giggles were music to their ears as they saw her fall down laughing by Grissom's kit.

"Damn, Warrick!" Grissom exclaimed.

"Sorry. Your ticker OK?" Warrick asked.

"What spiderweb?" Grissom demanded.

"Right here," Warrick referred to the spiderweb in the corner once he moved the curtain aside, "Kind of hard to get a baby out of a window and climb onto a ladder without messing up this web, don't you think?"

"Well, it could have happened after the abduction. Spiders can build one of these things in a few hours," Grissom pointed out as Warrick took a photo and proceeded to climb inside, "Warrick? What are you doing? Go around."

Grumbling something along the lines of, 'Take my goddaughter than make me go the long way round' along with other phrases (some that shan't be repeated), Warrick climbed down the ladder. As he did, though, Grissom found something in the crib.

A stray strand of hair.

* * *

><p>"Oh, you're right on the gold course. That must be nice," Catherine remarked inside the laundry room as Gwen went through the washing.<p>

"Steve likes it. I never cared for the game," Gwen shrugged as she pulled a jumper out from the clothes pile, "That one's my favourite. But Zacky, he, uh…he liked the other one. Here it is. There's a little spit-up on it. He liked the way the fabric felt on his skin."

She held up the outfit to her nose and inhaled deeply; inhaling the scent of her baby boy. Suddenly, she stooped. Gwen looked down and saw milk leaking from her shirt.

"Oh god," Gwen moaned.

"It's OK. It used to happen to me with my daughter if I didn't get to her right on time," Catherine chuckled.

"I can't believe this is happening to us," Gwen sobbed as she tried to clean the mess, smiling slightly as Catherine placed a supporting hand on her shoulder.

"I'll get this to our guys," Catherine promised as she left the laundry room with the outfit.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Elmo," Warrick greeted happily as he settled Kady onto his hip with a playful grunt, "God, you're getting so big! You're a big girl now!"<p>

"What's that, Uncle Gil?" Kady asked as Grissom placed a second strand of hair into a bindle.

"Two hairs. Separate and distinctive," Grissom asked as he placed the bindle into Warrick's free hand.

"Ah, the plot thickens," Warrick remarked.

"You smell something?" Grissom suddenly asked.

"I'm smelling strawberries and cream and those dirty diapers over there," Warrick answered as Grissom knelt in front of the window.

"It's like a household cleanser. There's a pine smell," Grissom noticed.

"Probably used to clean that diaper pail," Warrick remarked.

"No. It's stronger than that," Grissom shook his head as he put his nose on the carpet and inhaled, "It's emanating from this specific spot."

Grissom opened his kit and tested the specific spot for any sign of blood. The result that came was the result they all were dreading.

It was positive.

"Baby was killed before it even left the house. Guy tried to cover his tracks," Warrick sighed as he subconsciously tightened his hold on Kady, the case starting to effect him.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean you haven't checked for prints? It's a ransom letter!" Sara pointed out to Ronnie in the QD lab.<p>

"Everything in proper order. You know that. I got five other tests I got to run on this paper before I try to isolate prints," Ronnie reminded her.

"You got anything for me?" Sara asked.

"Yeah. The paper's expensive. High rag count," Ronnie observed.

"I could have told you that," Sara scoffed.

"Can you explain these three small vertical dots?" Ronnie retorted as he showed Sara what he was talking about.

"What? Where?" Sara immediately wanted to know.

"The printer that emitted this letter has a spot on the drum," Ronnie told her.

"A drum goes around three times to print one page. So if the Andersons' printer was used…," Sara began.

"There'd be three small dots on any paper that comes out," Ronnie finished Sara's sentence.

"No vertical dots," Sara pointed out.

"And different paper than the ransom letter. F.Y.I," Ronnie added, earning a look from Sara.

* * *

><p>"Yeah. This mould I made of that shoe print matches the gardener's boot that I found in the shed over there," Warrick was telling Grissom as they walked in the backyard. Warrick still refused to let go of Kady.<p>

"Yeah, well, we need to look for what's out of place," Grissom pointed out.

"And a gardener's boot in a garden is not out of place. Well, the Andersons did say the guy's been out of town on vacation for the last three days," Warrick added.

Grissom's phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and noticed the caller ID. Sara. Immediately, he answered it.

"Grissom."

* * *

><p>"Ransom note's not from the Anderson's printer or paper supply," Sara reported as she walked down the hallway.<p>

However, they had one small communication problem.

"_You're breaking up._"

"The Andersons are clear. Whoever wrote the letter did it from a different location and brought it with them," Sara rephrased her report.

"_Are you standing next to the copy machine outside ballistics?_"

"You want me to check ballistics?" Sara asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"_No. I want you to move away from that machine. Look. Check all the printers at Steve Anderson's company._"

* * *

><p>Warrick and Kady suddenly looked up and at the direction of the golf course. Grissom heard it too. The scent dogs they had acquired to search for Zack were barking madly. Immediately, they all knew what it meant.<p>

They found Zack.

"Get Q.D to help you with a warrant. Target all immediate coworkers and disgruntled employees first," Grissom instructed.

"_Are those our dogs? Grissom? Grissom! Do you want me to come by and take Kadelin?_"

Grissom didn't hear Sara's question or offer. He had hung up and tucked the phone in his pocket as he and Warrick ran like mad men towards the commotion. On the golf course, the dogs had led the officers to a cluster of bushes.

"Get those dogs back! Get them back!" Warrick yelled before freezing at the sight and immediately covering Kady's eyes, "Oh my God."

Warrick and Grissom were frozen in shock. They were hoping it wouldn't come down to this. They had hoped that there would be a happy ending for this case. They would find Zack alive. They would be able to return him to his loving family.

They didn't want to find his body wrapped in a blanket.

Grissom noticed a CSI Tech stepping forward to take pictures of the scene. He didn't like that. That tech was doing his job without emotion. He didn't understand how to do this particular part. He didn't understand how it felt to work a case involving a baby that will never grow up.

"Stand back," Grissom growled.

"We've got to have pictures. The coroner will be all over us," the tech defended.

"I'LL TAKE THE PICTURES!" Grissom snapped at him as he snatched the camera.

Everyone knew better than to get on Grissom's bad side. Especially when a case involves children. Grissom took photos from above at first. Of Zack's foot. Of Zack's face. Of his body. Then he knelt down and took numerous more photos. When he finished, he handed the camera back to the tech and stopped the coroner from taking the body.

"I'm going to take him," Grissom decreed.

Catherine ran towards the scene and froze at the sight of Grissom leaning down delicately. Immediately, she knew. She didn't need anyone to confirm what she already knew. Her heart shattered even more when she saw Grissom scoop the baby into his arms and stand up. Immediately, she wished she was back in the hospital four years ago when Kady was born. Catherine wished that she was witnessing Grissom holding Kady in his arms for the first time. She wished to be seeing anything but this.

"MY BABY! OH MY GOD!"

Catherine turned around and saw Gwen running towards the scene, Steve and an officer trying to stop her. She immediately ran over and tried to help as Gwen fell onto her knees holding her head, her body shaking with tears. Grissom stepped forward with the baby in his arms, making the situation worse.

"IT'S MY BABY! MY BABY! MY BABY!" Gwen wailed.

* * *

><p>Warrick worked on the hair samples he and Grissom had collected from the crib. The samples were under the scope. In the background, a news report about Zack's death.<p>

"_The Andersons, who own a profitable internet company in Las Vegas, are said to be devastated by the death of little Zachary. As for leads, the police will only say they have widened the investigation to include employees of Steve Anderson's company. Immediate co-workers are being asked to give DNA samples. By all accounts, the employees are complying voluntarily. One of them is quoted as saying, 'Anything to help Mr and Mrs Anderson in their time of grief.'_"

* * *

><p>"I can't give you exact time of death. But I do know cause of death was asphyxiation," Doc Robbins revealed to Grissom.<p>

"He was smothered," Grissom said with no emotion, still broken over finding the baby under the statuary.

"The retinal haemorrhages are the result of intracranial pressure from an oedema. The oedema was caused by an acute lack of oxygen," Doc Robbins explained.

"Smothered how? Did you find hand marks? Trauma around the mouth or nose?" Grissom asked.

"No," Doc Robbins shook his head.

"He was in a blanket when I found him…wrapped pretty tight," Grissom recalled.

"Positional asphyxiation? Maybe. Abductor might've tried to protect him from the cold. Suffocated him by mistake. I'm going to run tests on a microscopic fibre I found in his throat," Doc Robbins proclaimed as he held up the fibre to show Grissom, "But I don't think his death was benign, Gil. Or accidental. Sternum was cracked. X-Rays say the fracture is fresh. Manhandled and suffocated. This little guy didn't have a chance."

* * *

><p>"Are those from Anderson's company?" Grissom asked as he ran into Sara whilst walking rapidly through the hallway.<p>

"Yeah. There's like 200 of them in that place. I'm going to test them against the ransom note. One by one," Sara responded.

"You got homicide's list of disgruntled employees?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Not yet. They're still working on it," Sara answered.

"You call homicide back and tell them to get us that list now," Grissom instructed angrily before walking further down the hall towards Warrick, leaving a stunned Sara behind, "Hey."

"Hey," Warrick greeted.

"Where are we on those DNA samples?" Grissom asked.

"I got the hair samples from the baby's crib ready from comparison," Warrick answered.

"Yeah? So answer my question!" Grissom requested.

"Well, DNA's jammed. Sanders says he'll get to the blood comparisons…as soon as…," Warrick trailed off as Grissom stormed towards the DNA lab.

"I hear you're backlogged,' Grissom said as he interrupted Greg's work.

"Twenty 'unknowns' from some drug shoot-out. FBI special request. Sheriff told me to clear it off my counter before I do anything else," Greg explained.

"These?" Grissom asked, referring to the vials nearby.

"Yeah. You can almost smell Quantico, you know?" Greg remarked.

Grissom had heard enough. He grabbed the paperwork from Greg and placed it in the cart with the DNA samples. In his frustration, he pushed the cart out of the lab, which smashed into the wall. Everyone stopped when they saw the cart smash into the wall. When Kady approached the cart, Nick immediately grabbed Kady and pulled her to his chest to keep her from the shattered glass.

"There. Now they're off your counter," Grissom said to Greg as he handed the samples and files to him, "Zachary Anderson. D.O.B: 01-23-01. Date of death: three hours ago. Until we find out how and why, this is the only case you work on."

"Yes, sir," Greg muttered as Grissom left.

"Never seen him like this before," Nick said as he held Kady closer.

"Uncle Gil?" Kady whimpered.

Having seen enough, Sara walked off in the same direction Grissom stormed off at. She needed to talk to him. Now.

"Grissom!" Sara called.

"What?" Grissom barked as he turned to face Sara, still angry.

"You told me a few weeks ago that nothing is personal. No victim should be special," Sara reminded him, causing Grissom to reflect on those words he said to her all those weeks ago, "Everyone follows your lead."

"Everyone didn't find that baby. I did. And that little boy is dead because someone lost their temper or screwed up or God knows what. So excuse me. But this victim is special," Grissom retorted before turning to leave…only to run into Catherine.

"Mr and Mrs Anderson are calling. They want to know why you refuse to release the body for burial. They said that you gave the coroner strict instructions," Catherine conveyed, causing Grissom to sigh.

"You better drive," Grissom said.

"Sure," Catherine muttered.

* * *

><p>"I'm very sorry. But we have to preserve the evidence in a case like this. And, as difficult as this sounds, Zachary is evidence," Grissom told them.<p>

"We need to refer to him as the case unfolds," Catherine clarified.

"Well, do you have any leads? Any idea who did this?" Gwen asked.

"Your child was found five hundred yards from your back door, in clean clothes wrapped in a white blanket, laid under a statuary," Grissom recalled.

"A stranger wouldn't treat a victim like that," Catherine pointed out.

"You think we had something to do with this?" Steve gasped.

"The FBI tells us that you never received a call from the abductor. What kind of a kidnapper forgets to call the family?" Grissom asked.

"A wealthy family," Catherine added.

"My lawyer warned me that you were going to try this," Steve said before snapping angrily, "You don't have a suspect so now you're going to come after us!"

"But you have nothing to hide," Grissom retorted.

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT WE DON'T!" Steve yelled.

A knock on the door diffused the slowly-developing argument. They turned and saw Warrick standing there with a folder in his hand.

"I thought I'd deliver this in person. DNA came back on the entire family," Warrick announced as he handed Grissom the folder, who opened it and looked at the results.

"The blood we found in the baby's room. It belongs to your son, Tyler," Grissom read.

* * *

><p>"I was playing ball in the backyard and I cracked Zacky's window. Dad had told me not to hit the ball towards the house. So I went up and replaced the window before anyone got home and I cut my finger on the glass," Tyler clarified.<p>

"And you wiped up the blood with some type of pine cleanser," Grissom added.

"I thought I got it all," Tyler mumbled.

"Let's go back a second, Tyler. You said that you baby-sat for Robbie and Zack last night, right?" Grissom asked.

"I told the police that this morning," was all Tyler said as Brass walked into the room.

"We had a homeowner's association vote meeting. It was just five doors up from our house," Steve told them.

"I had, uh…I had made dinner and then Steve and I walked up to the clubhouse. We were gone maybe 30 minutes. Until 9:00," Gwen recalled.

"We contacted the Association. The story checks out," Brass agreed, "I also did a background search. Tyler has quite a temper on him. Don't you, Ty?"

"What?" Tyler demanded.

"You were expelled from school twice last year for physical altercation," Brass announced.

"That was schoolyard stuff," Steve objected.

"Beat up a 12-year-old in the school stairwell," Catherine retorted.

"He made fun of my mother. I wasn't going to let him get away with that," Tyler defended himself.

"Your brother Zack say something you didn't like? Yu weren't going to let him get away with that either?" Brass asked sarcastically.

Tyler surged to his feet and yelled at Brass angrily, "DON'T TALK ABOUT MY BROTHER THAT WAY, YOU BASTARD!"

"Sit down! Now!" Steve intervened as he forced Tyler to sit.

"He's uh…he's upset. He is not usually like this," Gwen explained apologetically.

"People are calling us killers. And I miss my little brother," Tyler whispered.

"That still doesn't mean you didn't kill him," Grissom retorted.

* * *

><p>"So what are we looking for?" Catherine asked as she and Grissom entered the house.<p>

"I don't know," Grissom shrugged.

"Well, let's start up and work out way down," Catherine suggested.

And that they did. Catherine began looking in Tyler's bedroom, searching every inch. However, the only things she found in there were magazines for Playpen and Boudoir.

So she joined Grissom in the master bedroom. Grissom was looking through the closet. He moved clothing aside and examined the clothing itself until he reached the stockings. Immediately, he noticed the green stains. Catherine, on the other hand, found something else. An empty plastic storage wrapper for a white baby blanket that was made of 100% Egyptian cotton. Much like the blanket Zack was wrapped in when he was found.

They searched the kitchen next. Grissom opened various cabinets and examined the ripped edges of the white plastic bags. Thinking this could be important, he bagged the roll.

The search went on like that.

* * *

><p>"Here's the father's bottle of cola – here's the unknown. I duplicated conditions and monitored the pressure that escaped from the father's bottle which he told you had been open two hours against one I know was open two hours. Kept this log. Pressure released every quarter hour," Nick explained as he singlehandedly handed Grissom his notes before holding Kady even tighter.<p>

"Good, Nick," Grissom complimented, earning a nod from Nick as he bounced Kady a little higher on his hip, "Did you find any ethanol on the lip of that bottle?"

"Well, I've got trace running tests now. But I did an unscientific whiff test," Nick confessed as he passed the bottle under Grissom's nose to prove his point, "Picked up a hint of booze."

"Call me when you get the results," Grissom requested as he placed the bag on the table, "See if they can find out what this green substance is on these nylons I found in Mr Anderson's closet."

"I'll take a swatch. Get it back to you ASAP," Nick nodded.

Grissom smiled and kissed Kady on the cheek before leaving the room. Nick smiled to himself as he nuzzled noses with his daughter before fully embracing her and beginning his work.

* * *

><p>"The mother's prints… The father's prints… And a set of unknowns," Grissom observed as he examined the prints on the ransom note under a magnifying glass with Sara.<p>

"They're not unknown," Sara corrected, causing Grissom to look at her in surprise, "I ran them against the employees of Steve Anderson's computer company; disgruntled and otherwise. They belong to a Needra Fenway."

"And who is Needra Fenway?" Grissom asked.

"Steve's secretary. So, of course, I checked out her printer. As I'm sure you know, all printers have their own unique signature," Sara began as they walked to the printer and she showed him the marks on the paper, "These three tiny vertical dots from Needra's printer match the ransom note perfectly."

Grissom turned to look at Sara. Gazing into each other's eyes, they smiled at one another. Proud of themselves for getting closer to putting the mystery of little Zachary's death to rest.

* * *

><p>"Thank you," Needra muttered as Grissom placed a cut of copy before her and sat across from her.<p>

"Thank you for coming in," Grissom corrected.

"Anything I can do to help. You know, it's…it's just terrible what happened," Needra said.

"Maybe you can explain why your printer was used to create the ransom note found in the Anderson home," Brass suggested.

"What?" Needra demanded.

"We have evidence that this came from your printer," Grissom restated as he showed Needra the bagged ransom note.

"There are 500 people who work in that office. Anyone could have used my printer," Needra defended herself.

"We also found a strand of hair. Our lab has matched it to you," Grissom told her.

"From the Anderson home," Brass added.

"I'm Steve's secretary. I go there," Needra stated.

"Do you go upstairs?" Grissom asked, "'Cause that's where we found this particular hair."

Needra didn't say anything. However, she didn't need to. Because Catherine figured it out.

"You two were having an affair," Catherine realized.

"We ended it," Needra immediately informed them.

"Because his wife got pregnant?" Catherine guessed.

"I'm not going down this road," Needra shook her head.

"What? A new baby screw up the office romance?" Catherine assumed.

"It was more than just an office romance. OK? Much more," Needra retorted.

"Yeah. Well, a lot of women would understand if you went over there and…got rid of that baby," Catherine stated.

"Sure. Quickest way to end a guy's marriage," Brass remarked.

"OK. I need a lawyer. Is that it? Is that what you're saying to me?" Needra demanded as she went to leave, only to have Grissom stop her and show her the nylons.

"Are these your nylons? I found these hidden in the back of Mr Anderson's closet. So did you come to him after you disposed of the baby and ask him to hide them for you?" Grissom asked.

"Talk to Steve," was all Needra said before she left.

"Steve asked her to get out from underneath the obligation of a newborn?" Catherine guessed.

"Geez. Haven't these people ever heard of divorce?" Brass asked rhetorically.

* * *

><p>"Needra didn't kill Zack any more than I did," Steve immediately said as he and Grissom sat by the pool in the hotel.<p>

"How do you explain her hair in the baby's crib?" Grissom wanted to know.

"We broke up the day that I learned that Gwen was pregnant with Zack. I love Needra. But I love my family more. Needra asked if she oculd see Zack after he was born to help her kind of accept the reality. So I had her in last Saturday to watch him sleep. Gwen had the kids at skating. Needra was out of the house in 15 minutes," Steve explained before noticing Grissom's expression and sighing, "You don't believe me."

"You've lied to me before," Grissom stated.

"About what?" Steve demanded.

"You told me that you opened that cola bottle the morning you reported Zack missing. We had a test done. You opened that bottle six hours before you said you did – the night before – somewhere around 11:00P.M. The lab is still testing it. I also believe that you cut it with alcohol," Grissom revealed.

"Rum and cola. What does that prove?" Steve questioned.

"Was Needra Fenway in your house that night? Did you catch her suffocating your son?" Grissom asked.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Needra sneered at the baby as she held the material over little Zachary, suffocating him. His cries were music to her ears. Gwen and Steve, having heard their son's cries, rushed into the room._

"_What are you doing?" Steve demanded as he pulled Needra off of Zack and Gwen checked him._

"_What have you done?" Gwen screeched.  
><em>_End flashback_

"That's not how it happened," Steve shook his head.

"Well, why don't you tell me how it happened?" Grissom suggested.

Across the pool, they heard the sound of shattering glass. Immediately, they turned in that direction. They saw Gwen, Robbie and Tyler relaxing at the other side while Steve and Grissom had their little chat. Robbie had accidentally knocked something over and shattered it. Unfortunately, it happened to be made of glass.

"Robbie, what did you do?" Gwen groaned.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Robbie sobbed.

"Alright. I heard you," Gwen sighed as she went to clean up the mess.

"Do we have to have this conversation right now?" Steve asked.

"Mr Anderson?" a reporter greeted as she approached them.

"What? Yeah," Steve nodded.

"I'm from the Las Vegas Post. How do you feel about these pictures your secretary sold to the Midnight Informer this afternoon?" she asked as she showed Steve photos of him and Needra together.

"Where did you get these?" Steve demanded as he looked at them.

"The tabloid's website. Needra sold them to pay for her legals fees," the reporter answered, causing Steve to glance across the pool towards his wife, "Mr Anderson?"

"My only comment is that I love my wife very much," was all Steve said before the reporter left.

"Excuse me. I'm from the Las Vegas Post. Can I ask you a few questions?" the reporter asked Gwen as she showed her the photos.

"No," Gwen responded as she locked eyes with Steve.

* * *

><p>"A wife kills her baby to get back at her husband over his affair? Come on! Any woman would go after the husband! Not the baby!" Catherine protested as she and Grissom discussed the case with Dr Phillip Kane.<p>

"True. But in some instances, women have been known to kill their children as a way to pay back a spouse. Particularly if it's over an affair and particularly if the child was a male child" Dr Kane argued.

"Well, I don't buy it. I just don't buy it, doctor. She really loved that baby," Catherine pointed out.

"Well, Catherine, that's why she's in this much pain now," Dr Kane revealed.

"A guy cheats. But the wife commits murder," Catherine said, "How come mums always end up the bad guy with your Freud types?"

"That's because this mother is the bad guy," Brass answered as he walked into the room, "CNN just dug up a 13-year-old charge against Gwen Anderson. I heard it on the car radio."

"What kind of charge?" Grissom wanted to know.

"It's called shaken baby syndrome. The oldest boy – Tyler? When he was a newborn, she shook him so hard they had to go to the hospital. She shook the kid unconscious," Brass explained.

"Is this authentic?" Catherine asked in shock.

"Yeah. They were on the phone with the arresting officer from Oregon. He faxed me this report. Our grieving mother has a record for child abuse," Brass proclaimed as he handed Grissom the file.

* * *

><p>Brad Lewis exited the car in front of the police department and helped Gwen out before escorting her towards the station. Well…trying to, at least. Reporters were eager to snap photos and scream questions. Onlookers were eager to scream abuse since the majority of them were parents. Sensing their trouble, Grissom pushed through and began to help her through.<p>

"BABY KILLER!"

"YOU SHOULD DIE!"

"YOU CALL YOURSELF A MOTHER?"

"YOU'RE THE WORST!"

"BABY KILLER!"

"SOMEONE SHOULD TAKE THOSE OTHER KIDS FROM YOU!"

Along the way, someone was pushed in the ensuing trouble and that person ran into Grissom, accidentally hitting him in the eye during the process and unknowingly making Grissom more upset than he was.

"Did you kill Zachary over your husband's affair? Did you act alone or did Tyler help?"

"BABY KILLER! BITCH! KILLER! YOU DESERVE TO DIE!"

Gwen and Brad managed to make it through the front door. Grissom, however, wasn't as lucky. He was stopped by a reporter who was eager to throw questions at him.

"Gil Grissom!" he called, causing Grissom to turn around, "You found the baby. How hard is it for you to look at Gwen Anderson?"

"Let me tell you something. People are presumed innocent. Innocent until a court of law can examine all the evidence and prove otherwise. Until then, everything else is…gossip," Grissom choked before storming into the building.

"SHE DESERVES TO BE PUT IN JAIL!"

"GIL GRISSOM! GIL GRISSOM!"

* * *

><p>"Ice," Catherine offered as she pressed an ice pack to Grissom's eye.<p>

"I don't need this," Grissom grumbled as he removed the ice pack.

"Just do it," Catherine ordered as Grissom surrendered and placed the ice pack over his eye, "That was quite a speech you made out there. But between you, me and the water fountain…you think that Gwen Anderson's innocent?"

Grissom removed the pack from his eye again in shock, "What? Are you changing teams now? You've been her biggest supporter."

"I still am. I'm just…taking your temperature," Catherine defended as Grissom replaced the ice pack on his eye and Brass walked out.

"Hey. We're up," Brass proclaimed.

"You didn't answer my question," Catherine stated as she and Grissom stood up.

"You're right. I didn't," Grissom agreed as he threw the ice pack into the trash can.

* * *

><p>"I never meant to hurt Tyler. You have to understand," Gwen immediately began.<p>

"You shook him unconscious," Grissom reminded her.

"He was choking," Gwen defended.

"All on his own?" Brass guessed dryly.

"Change your tone or I'll end this right now," Brad threatened.

"Well, it's a legitimate question. But I have to work on my tone. You're right," Brass agreed sarcastically before clearing his throat, "All on his own?"

"Go ahead, Mrs Anderson," Catherine encouraged.

"He had gotten food in his windpipe. His face was…turning red. Steve was at work. So I, I patted him on his back and-and on…and on his stomach and finally, I turned him upside down and I started shaking him to get the food out…to…to dislodge it, and I did. But I realized that I had hurt him, so I called 911," Gwen explained, failing to do so without stuttering.

"She was a new mother. 23 years old," Brad added before asking rhetorically, "If she'd meant to harm her son, why would she call 911?"

"Did the E.R find proof that there was food lodged in Tyler's throat?" Grissom asked.

"No. That's why the police were called in. And by the time my client went home and found the chewed food on the floor, it was all too late. She was branded," Brad answered on Gwen's behalf.

"It was a French fry. He'd grabbed it from my plate," Gwen recalled.

"As for the death of little Zachary, my client categorically denies any involvement. She's a victim of an intruder who entered her home and abducted and killed her child. Thank you all for your continued efforts to find the real killer," Brad thanked as he went to stand…only to be stopped by Grissom.

"Did you know that your golf course paints its grass?" Grissom asked randomly.

"Excuse me?" Gwen said.

"It's actually a vegetable dye. Biodegradable. They've been using green dye on television tournaments for several years," Grissom stated.

"What's your point?" Brad sighed.

"I found a pair of nylons in the back of your husband's closet," Grissom revealed.

"We, uh, we have a receipt that links them to your client," Brass added.

"The exact same dye from the golf course where Zachary was laid to rest is on your nylons," Grissom announced.

"She belongs to the club," Brad stated, "Grass stains."

"But she doesn't play golf. Remember our conversation, Mrs Anderson? It's not your game?" Catherine retorted, causing Gwen to go quiet.

"If you arrest her now, you have 48 hours to charge her. You really want to show your hand at the arraignment?" Brad challenged.

"We'll be in touch," Brass promised.

* * *

><p>Gwen walked up to the car, happy to be free from the reporters and critics…for the time being. Steve was waiting outside with Robbie in his arms. Tyler stood behind the two of them. Robbie began reaching his arms out to Gwen, indicating that he wanted Gwen to hold him.<p>

"Look," Steve said.

"Mummy! I want my mummy!" Robbie squealed.

However, Gwen ignored her son's cries and grabby hands. She just walked up to the car door. Worried, Steve and Tyler followed her, sensing that there was something she wasn't letting on.

"Hey. Can we just go, please?" Gwen pleaded them.

"What's going on?" Tyler immediately began asking.

"Did you see that?" Catherine asked Grissom in surprise, having watched from the window.

"A mother repelled by her young," Grissom observed.

"She didn't seem like that type to me," Catherine sighed.

"Alright, OK. Here. Go to your brother," Steve said as he handed Robbie over to Tyler.

"I'll catch you later. I wanna hear that 911 tape," Catherine said as she walked away.

"Hi," Sara muttered.

"Hey," Catherine muttered back.

"Grissom?" Sara called, causing Grissom to turn around, "The coroner's been trying to reach you."

"Did he nail time of death?" Grissom asked.

"9:00P.M. But, uh, there's something else. He isolated the fibre found in Zachary Anderson's throat. It's a flame-retardant material – generic name's metaramid," Sara revealed.

"From the baby's clothes?" Grissom guessed.

"Fire-retardant infant's clothes are made of vinyon. The finre found in Zack's throat is a stronger chemical treatment. It's found in things that are made to be near fire and flames," Sara explained as she followed Grissom who was heading down the hallway, "Hey. Can I go with you?"

* * *

><p>Grissom and Sara found themselves back in the Anderson residence. This time, they were looking for something different. Last time, they were looking for something to link them to the murder or the placement of little Zachary. Now, they were looking for the murder weapon. They were looking through the drawers when Grissom found what was used to smother Zack. He held it up high for them to see.<p>

A potholder.

"Same colour as the fibre in Zack's throat," Sara observed.

* * *

><p>"OK. This is the 911 call from the Anderson house at 4:30A.M," Warrick began as he played the call.<p>

"_Our baby has been kidnapped. 493 Fairmark. Please hurry._"

"Mrs Anderson wasn't there?" Catherine guessed in disbelief.

"You wouldn't think sho. But I went ahead and separated out any underlying voices," Warrick corrected.

"_What are we going to do?_"

"She was standing, like, two metres from the phone," Warrick added.

"Yeah, well, it's a legitimate comment. Doesn't make her guilty of anything," Catherine retorted.

"I know. So I checked to see if she was, like, faking her concern. This program measures the stress level of the speakers," Warrick went on.

"_Oh God, what are we going to do?_"

"The stress is real," Warrick pointed out.

"Are you familiar with the JonBenet case?" Catherine suddenly asked.

"A little," Warrick confessed.

"Well, the police went back, and they found an earlier call that was placed from the home to 911 and the audio tests separated out the son's voice. Now I'm not saying that Tyler's our guy. But we need to check into every avenue," Catherine pointed out.

"Well, I did backtrack and there were no other calls that night from the Anderson house. From the land line or from the cell phone," Warrick protested.

"In the parents' name. But did you look under Tyler's? I mean, a rich kid like that's probably got a cell phone," Catherine retorted.

"Yeah. Alright. I'll get into it," Warrick nodded as Catherine's cell phone began to ring.

"Hello," Catherine answered the call.

"_Anderson's attorney. 7:00A.M._"

"7:00A.M? I'll be there," Catherine promised.

"_Bring all the evidence._"

"Yeah. I'll bring it all. Thanks," Catherine nodded before leaving the room.

* * *

><p>"My collegues, Messrs Landry and Frank, are representing Steve and Tyler Anderson respectively. Although we're not co-counsel in the strictest sense, we've agreed the authorities should have no more than three questions to put to our clients each. After that, we'll accept written submissions only," Brad began laying down the ground rules for Catherine and Grissom.<p>

"Nice…what money came by," Catherine remarked.

"My family is done being railroaded by you people. So just ask your questions and let's go," Steve sighed in frustration.

"Alright. Let's work backwards. Starting with the cover-up," Catherine suggested, "Sometime around 11:00P.M, the night of the kidnapping, you and Mr Anderson had a drink – rum and cola – and decided what to do with the body of Zachary. We have yet to determine whether or not his death was accidental or intentional."

"The question documents lab thinks that a parent wrote the ransom note because there's no money amount," Grissom added as he showed them the photocopy of the ransom note, "Too hard to put a price on your own son?"

"Mrs Anderson, while your husband was writing the ransom note, you wrapped Zachary's boy in a blanket that you got from the upstairs linen closet. You then laid his body to rest near a statue on the gold course," Catherine went on.

"That's how you got the grass stains on your nylons," Grissom piped in.

"You put down a plastic bag from the pantry so that he'd remain dry. Evidence of genuine care and concern," Catherine pointed out, "And Mr Anderson, you put up a ladder outside the window."

"The only shoe prints we found were yours and the gardener's and the gardener had been out of town. You then drove over to your office and cranked off a ransom note on the first available printer, possibly thinking that if you used a printer from outside your house, we wouldn't be able to trace it. But these three dots have given you away," Grissom proclaimed.

"This may prove cover-up. None of it proves they killed Zachary," Brad pointed out.

"You're right, counsellor. Zachary's life was taken much earlier in the evening. The coroner estimated time of death at 9:00P.M," Grissom started.

"Estimated. It could be 8:30," Brad scoffed.

"Yes. While Robbie and Zachary were in Tyler's care," Grissom finished, causing Gwen to realize what was going on, "You said that we could ask three questions each. Am I right?"

"Stop. Ty didn't do this," Gwen protested.

"Don't give them anything," Brad advised.

"No, no. It doesn't matter. We're already ruined. Look, they're just…they're just trying to protect me, alright?" Gwen rambled.

"Please," Brad pleaded.

"And I can't go on," Gwen said.

"Mrs Anderson," Brad warned.

"I killed him. I came home. Tyler h-h-hadn't put Zachary to bed because he…he was crying. And I wanted him to hush up and, and I just…I went to far," Gwen wailed.

"For the record, my client made this statement against legal counsel," Brad sighed.

"Would you tell us…how you killed him?" Grissom asked.

"I smothered him with a potholder. And that's when Steve and I came up with the kidnap story," Gwen answered.

"It was the longest night of our lives," Steve remarked.

"You had to wait till morning to report him missing," Catherine stated.

"So that it wouldn't look suspicious. And you may not believe me. But I loved him. I loved him very, very much," Gwen reassured them.

"We're going to have them both arrested," Grissom proclaimed.

* * *

><p>"I was just coming to meet you guys," Warrick remarked as he met Catherine and Grissom in the hallway, "I thought you were at the Andersons."<p>

"We're done. She copped," Grissom proclaimed.

"What?" Warrick demanded in disbelief.

"Guilty people do that when you corner them with evidence," Catherine stated.

"Guys, the mother didn't do it," Warrick revealed.

"What?" Grissom demanded in disbelief.

"Listen," was all Warrick said as he handed Grissom the earphones.

What greeted his ears was something he didn't see coming.

"_What did you do, Robbie? What did you do?_"

* * *

><p>"I was watching the boys. I had my eye on them. I did," Tyler began explaining the real story.<p>

"Yeah. But then you called your girlfriend," Grissom observed from the records in the folder.

"And we got to talking. And I was kind of ignoring Zack and Robbie. They were being quiet. They were behaving. I turned around and I saw how still he was. I ran to him. And he was dead," Tyler recalled.

"And that's when you called 911. But you must have dropped the phone to tend to Zack," Grissom said as he played the call.

"_911._"

"_What did you do, Robbie? What did you do?_"

"And I guess somewhere in the chaos, you got disconnected. Soon after that, your parents arrived," Grissom continued the story.

_Begin flashback  
><em>_Gwen and Steve walked into the house after the meeting up the road. They were laughing. They were smiling. They were…happy. Something that wasn't rare nor common for the Andersons. However, their happiness faded when they saw a horrific sight._

_Tyler was kneeling on the floor._

_Trying to revive Zack._

_"Oh my God! What happened?" Gwen gasped as she raced over.  
><em>_End flashback_

"One of you worked on him so hard that you cracked his sternum," Grissom stated as he recalled the information from the autopsy.

"He was already blue. I pushed. I tried to breathe air into him. But he was gone," Tyler recalled.

"We did everything that we could," Steve surmised the story.

"Why didn't you just tell the truth?" Brass asked after the initial shock wore off.

"We wanted to protect Robbie. We didn't want him to grow up with the stigma of 'the boy who killed his brother,'" Steve answered, his voice breaking in the process as he was overwhelmed with the emotions he was feeling when the truth finally came out.

"He's three. He's clinically unaware of his actions. No court would hold him accountable for that," Grissom stated.

"But everybody else would know. It would follow him the rest of his life," Steve protested, "And my wife would rather go to prison than to have anybody know what Robbie did."

"Mr Anderson, we won't let that happen," Grissom swore.

* * *

><p>The buzzer sounded across the department jail as the cell door opened. Gwen stepped out of her cell, looking as miserable as she felt. The main gate opened and she was handed her things. Catherine stood outside the gate waiting for her.<p>

"Now I know why you didn't want to hold Robbie when your husband handed him to you outside the police department," Catherine remarked as Gwen slid her jacket on, "I'm very sorry."

"I always, uh…I always tell them 'gentle, gentle,'" Gwen sniffled.

Catherine nodded in understanding. She remembered the day she brought Lindsey to the hospital to meet Kadelin a couple of days after she was born. Lindsey wanted to meet her god sister and Nick was considered to be a second father to her. So she was eager to meet her.

_Begin flashback  
><em>"_Are we meeting her, mummy?" Lindsey asked eagerly._

_Catherine couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's enthusiasm. During Abby's entire pregnancy, she would feel her stomach and gasp excitedly whenever she felt the baby kick, saying that she felt her 'baby sister' kicked. When Lindsey found out about Abby dying after Kady was saved, she was sad but happy. Sad because the man who was a father to her – the man who was there in the delivery room when Catherine gave birth – lost the woman he loved. But happy to know that her daughter survived._

"_Look, there she is!" Catherine said as they walked into the nursery to see Nick standing next to Kady's cot with his young daughter in his arms talking Gibberish to her._

"_Hi, Nicky!" Lindsey greeted as she hugged Nick's legs._

"_Hey, kiddo," Nick responded happily as he hugged her singlehandedly, "What are you doing here? Aren't you meant to be at school?"_

"_Mummy said I could take the day off so I could meet my sister!" Lindsey told him excitedly, "Can I hold her?"_

"_Sure. You have to sit in that chair, though," Nick answered._

_He couldn't deny Lindsey the opportunity to hold Kadelin. He saw how excited she was during Abby's pregnancy. Eagerly, Lindsey sat in the chair and waited patiently. In the background, Catherine got her camera out._

"_OK. Here you go. Make sure you support her head," Nick warned as he settled Kady in her arms._

_"Gentle, gentle," Catherine warned as Nick stood back._

"_What's her name?" Lindsey asked as she studied Kady's face._

"_Kadelin. But…everyone's calling her Kady," Nick answered._

"_OK. Smile for the camera, honey," Catherine instructed._

_Lindsey looked up at the camera and smiled happily, holding Kady a little tighter. Almost protectively. Catherine happily took the picture._

"_Now let's get in there, Nicky," Catherine requested as she handed the nurse the camera.  
><em>_End flashback_

She still carries that photo around with her.

"He didn't mean it. I know he didn't mean it," Gwen furiously shook her head.

"Of course he didn't," Catherine agreed sympathetically.

"You must think that we are awful people – all this stuff that's come out," Gwen's laugh was without humour.

"You're an average family burdened with a tragedy that put you under a microscope. That close, nobody can look good," Catherine remarked.

Grissom was waiting for them in the hallway when Catherine and Gwen finally came out. Shadows were forming and lights were flashing outside the windows of the department. Immediately, they knew that there were reporters and citizens waiting outside for Gwen. Everyone was more than ready to throw questions and backlash at the hurting mother.

"Your family's waiting for you. You ready?" Grissom asked.

Grissom and Catherine weren't about to let Gwen face the hoard of people outside alone. Especially with the kinds of questions and backlash they were ready to throw at her. Desperately trying to calm herself, Gwen began walking towards the front doors of the building. Flanked beside her were Grissom and Catherine. If she had to face this, they would face it too. When she opened the door, she was greeted with her former life.

Every single bittersweet moment of it.

"WILL THE FAMILY BE MOVING?"

"WILL YOU MAKE ANY STATEMENTS?"

"COMMENTS?"

* * *

><p><strong>I'd do an extra scene. But I can't come up with one. But next episode will be interesting. Because you and I both know what happens in that one.<strong>

**BYE!**


	21. Sounds of Silence

**Me: Try and guess this quote: All objects in the universe are unique. No two things that happen by chance ever happen in exactly the same way. No two things are ever constructed or manufactured in exactly the same way. No two things wear in exactly the same way. No two things ever break in exactly the same way.**

**Grissom: Joe Nickell.**

**Me: …damn you.**

**Grissom: Try and guess this one: All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it.**

**Me: Uh…Jean Cocteau.**

**Grissom: Show off.**

**Me: Oh! I'm writing a better version of Nick and Abby's love story. Anyone wanna help me come up with a really good name for it?**

**Sounds of Silence: A deaf man was run over by a car, leaving Grissom, Sara and Warrick to figure out what happened leading up to his death and who killed him after discovering that he was already dying before being run over. The case also reveals a secret about Grissom that no one (except Kady) knew about. Meanwhile, Catherine and Nick are investigating an apparent mob hit in a local coffee shop that resulted in the deaths of five people.**

**Next, Justice is Served: A jogger is gruesomely killed during a vicious dog attack in the park. Grissom, Nick and Warrick discover that his liver was surgically removed just moments later. Meanwhile, Sara grows concerned when Catherine gets emotionally involved in their case, which involves the death of a six-year-old girl on a carnival ride.**

**Then, Evaluation Day: Grissom reaches the day he has to evaluate his team. However, the cases that are thrown at the Graveyard shift delay him from the evaluations. Along with Catherine, he deals with the discovery of a severed head in the trunk of a car while Sara and Nick investigate a headless body that appears to fell from the sky. Warrick is in charge of a murder in a juvenile detention centre where his young friend James is the only witness.**

**Later, Strip Strangler: A signature killer is torturing, raping and killing young women who are single parents to daughters under the age of five and brutally killing their daughters. Grissom and his team find catching the Strip Strangler to be a challenge as he possesses satisfactory knowledge of forensics to leave very little evidence behind. Much to Grissom's dismay, the Sheriff decides to involve Special Agent Culpepper from the FBI. The anger that Nick and Grissom share will only grow when he want to use Sara and Kady as bait.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>"That club was hot!" Charlotte crowed as she and Lisa drove down the road after spending time in a nightclub.<p>

"We're just warming up, my girl," Lisa proclaimed as she turned into a new street.

"Wait, wait, wait. I don't think this is the right way," Charlotte protested.

"It's a shortcut," was all Lisa said to her.

"A shortcut to where?" Charlotte laughed.

All laughter disappeared as they went over something. The car shook as it landed on the road again roughly. Charlotte immediately knew that something was wrong. Even if she didn't know the area.

"Stop. Stop the car," Charlotte pleaded as she looked back.

"It was just a pothole," Lisa assumed as she looked through the mirror.

"I think you hit someone!" Charlotte gasped.

The sound of tires screeching against the road echoed through the night.

* * *

><p>Grissom and Sara stepped out of the car after it slowed to a stop in the road. Immediately, they approached Sergeant O'Riley who was in charge of this case. Warrick was already there snapping photos of the crime scene.<p>

"Blonde behind the wheel. Girlfriend in the passenger seat called it in. Vehicular manslaughter," O'Riley explained.

"Taillight?" Sara guessed as she referred to the evidence markers and the broken taillight.

"Yeah," Warrick nodded.

Grissom shone his flashlight briefly over the body and the surrounding road. Immediately, he noticed the six-pack of beer in a plastic bag.

"You been drinking, Warrick?" Grissom asked.

"No. I'm having a block party," Warrick answered sarcastically before adding, "I marked where I found it – over on that sidewalk over there."

Sara and Grissom placed their kits on the ground and began examining the body themselves. Grissom slid the victim's shirt upwards, bunching it underneath his armpits and revealing his chest and the bruises that stained it. Sara immediately began taking photos.

"Two distinct tire treads – one wide…one narrow," Grissom observed.

"Given the extensive bruising from the wide tread mark, victim was killed by a larger vehicle. Not that compact," Sara realized.

Grissom took off his glasses as he turned to look at O'Riley who was escorting the two girls to his car for booking. However, he stopped when Grissom called him.

"Hey, O'Riley! I wouldn't book those suspects just yet. I think they ran over a corpse," Grissom proclaimed.

Insert main titles here

When Nick and Catherine arrived at the crime scene, they flashed the siren on and off. Their aim was to get attention from Grissom and Sara. And it worked. They walked over as Catherine rolled down her window so she and Nick could talk to them. Immediately, Grissom and Sara noticed that Kady was in the backseat.

"What's up?" Sara asked as she and Grissom waved to Kady, smiling as she waved back.

"We got a call about ten minutes ago – a shooting at Vegas Grounds Coffee Shop, Eighth and Main. Multiple fatalities," Nick began.

"We want this one," Catherine finished.

"You guys get over there. Keep me in the loop. Keep the media out of it," Grissom instructed.

"Right," Catherine nodded before shifting in her seat and coughing to regain Grissom's attention, "Hey. Remember about three months ago, I applied to the American Academy meeting in Chicago? Well, the deadline for your approval is end of shift today."

"It's not a problem," Grissom reassured her.

"There's important papers to be presented…," Catherine began rambling.

"You don't have to explain. Consider it done," Grissom promised.

"Thank you," Catherine thanked.

"Good luck," Grissom wished.

"Roll down the back window," Sara requested.

Nick did, knowing what was going to come next. Both Grissom and Sara walked to the back. Nick and Catherine heard the sound of Kady's giggles as Grissom and Sara kissed her and hugged her. It was as if Grissom and Sara were Kady's parents rather than Nick, even though that he knew it would never be true unless something happened that left him unable to care for her.

* * *

><p>"Printed your hit-and-run. AFIS found a match. Brian Clemonds. 22. Born in Vegas. And he's deaf," Doc Robbins began informing Grissom, Sara and Warrick of his findings.<p>

"You can tell he's death by his fingerprints?" Sara asked in amazement.

"Actually, yes. He was printed as part of a state aid program in '81. To confirm, I examined his ear canal. Normally, the malleus is shaped like a hammer – a long, smooth handle connecting to a blunt head – but Brian's malleus is knotted, both of them. Birth defect," Doc Robbins explained.

"There's a college for the deaf about a mile from where we found him," Grissom pointed out.

"So Brian takes a walk across the street, doesn't hear the car, gets creamed," Warrick shrugged.

"The vehicle – probably a truck or an SUV based on the width of the tire tread – takes off. Later, along comes a compact – thump – runs over his dead body," Sara added.

"Maybe. Maybe not," Doc Robbins objected as he removed the sheet slightly and lifted Brian's bloodied right hand, "See the dried blood on his knuckles? No associated wounding. Blood's probably not his."

"Yu know what that means: smackdown. The kid was in a fight," Warrick proclaimed.

"That ended in murder," Sara piped in.

"Did you send a sample of his blood to DNA?" Grissom asked.

"When you find the suspect, you'll nail him with his own body fluid," Doc Robbins answered.

"Has his family been notified?" Grissom questioned.

"Not yet," Doc Robbins sighed sadly.

After all, one of the worst parts of the job is notifying the family of the victim. However, it would be even worse if the victim was a child.

* * *

><p>"One person dead, it's a shame. More than one's a party," Nick stated as he and Catherine walked up the sidewalk towards the coffee shop, carefully avoiding the press.<p>

"Get ready to pull a double," Catherine warned.

"Thank you," Nick said sarcastically as they signed in with the officer.

Like everyone else in the lab, Nick always dreaded pulling doubles, triples and God knows what. Even more when his wife died and his daughter was born. The lab wasn't the best place to raise her. He knew that. But he still did it. But it wasn't because he felt as if there was no other option. There was a deeper meaning. Aside from the fact that he wanted to keep Kady close, especially with the dangers that come with the job.

Nick began approaching one of the bodies on the floor. However, something else caught his attention. He set Kady down and held her hand as they walked over to a portable CD player. He lifted the earphones and even though they were only up to his knees and Kady's head, he could hear the music loud and clear.

"Speed Metal. Couldn't hear a bomb go off over this," Nick remarked as Brass walked up to them.

"Welcome to the caffeine wars. I got four dead. One on the way to the hospital. The kid who belonged to those headphones," Brass told them.

"I count two," Catherine observed, "Where are the others?"

"One behind the counter. One in the backroom," Brass answered.

"Guy wasn't light with the ammo. This place is raining shell casings," Nick observed as Brass settled Kady onto his hip, "Are you guys ever gonna stop stealing my daughter from me?"

"Nope," Brass, Catherine and the officer outside chorused together.

Catherine walked up to one of the bodies lying before the counter. Immediately, she recognized him. In fact, everyone from that era would.

"Hey. I know this guy," Catherine said.

"I bet you do. Who doesn't know Frankie Flynn?" Brass retorted, "Used to own the Orpheus. Lost his gaming license a couple of years ago."

"Oh yeah. Too many dips in the chips," Catherine recalled.

"Yeah. You got that right," Brass remarked.

"Who's the muscle?" Nick asked.

"This is Al Robson – Frankie Flynn's bodyguard," Brass answered.

"Cash taken?" Nick wanted to know.

"Till's full and all the wallets are accounted for. I don't think anyone was interested in the, uh, cash…or the coffee," Brass said.

"You thinking hit?" Nick guessed as he and Catherine headed for the back of the counter.

"Maybe," Brass shrugged as he looked around, "Frankie drives a bulletproof car. What does that tell you?"

Catherine and Nick noticed the dead waitress behind the counter. Catherine closed her eyes and sighed. Nick immediately snatched Kady from Brass, suddenly filled with the overwhelming urge to keep his young daughter close.

"She's probably still in high school," Nick moaned as they walked into the back of the shop…only to find the other waitress dead, "Bless her heart."

"Assuming Flynn was the target and it was a hit, the shooter followed Flynn in the front door. Shot the muscle first, then Flynn and some poor kid minding his business. The girls were last. Four dead. One is still alive," Catherine proclaimed, only to have Brass' beeper kill the mood.

"Make that five. Guy died on the way to the hospital," Brass announced.

* * *

><p>Grissom and an officer walked up to the front door of the Clemonds residence. Grissom rang the doorbell. He really didn't want to do this. Unfortunately, it was one of the downsides of the job. Especially when the door opened.<p>

"Mrs Clemonds?" Grissom asked.

"Yes?" Mrs Clemonds nodded.

"My name is Gil Grissom. I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab," Grissom introduced himself as he held up his badge.

"Crime Lab?" Mrs Clemonds repeated in confusion.

"May I come in for a minute?" Grissom requested kindly.

"OK," she nodded as she let Grissom in, who immediately noticed the bell near the floorboards, "My son is deaf. That bell is connected to the doorbell."

"The bell sets off vibrations which reverberate on the floorboards so that he knows someone's at the door," Grissom explained.

"Yes," Mrs Clemonds agreed.

"Mrs Clemonds, I'm here about your son, Brian. There's no easy way to say this," Grissom began.

"Oh God. Please no," Mrs Clemonds pleaded as she began to cry.

"Brian was killed tonight," Grissom finished what he was saying.

"No, no, no," Mrs Clemonds kept on muttering through her tears as she slowly sat on the couch, "This is my fault."

"No. No it's not," Grissom disagreed.

"When I was pregnant, I had the German measles and the virus took away his hearing. It's my fault," Mrs Clemonds protested.

"No, Mrs Clemonds," Grissom continued to disagree before revealing, "We think he might have been murdered."

"Murdered?" Mrs Clemonds repeated in disbelief.

"Would you like to talk to a Family Services Counsellor?" Grissom offered.

"Talking is overrated, Mr Grissom. Just find out who did this to my boy. Please," Mrs Clemonds pleaded.

* * *

><p>"It's been a hell of a night. First the deaf kid. Now a hit," Doc Robbins remarked before warning, "It's going to take a while to process all the bodies."<p>

"What do you know about Flynn?" Catherine asked.

"I always start with the celebrities. Frankie Flynn. 38. Gunshot wounds to the head and the abdomen," Doc Robbins answered.

"Any bullets recovered?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Only one. Out of the head. Nine millimetre .357. I deal with the pin cushions. Ballistics deals with the pins. Shooter could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he'd waited a month of two," Doc Robbins said.

"Why?" Catherine demanded.

"Invasive colon cancer. On his way out," Doc Robbins responded.

"Guess he got off easy," Catherine remarked, earning a hum from Grissom as she turned to the blonde waitress lying next to him, someone who almost resembled Abby, "I.D?"

"Erin McCarty. 20," David Phillips answered on Doc Robbins' behalf.

"Wonder if she even knew she was pregnant," Doc Robbins mused.

"Just keeps getting better. Someone notify the husband?" Catherine asked.

"Cop said she's single. She lives at home with her mother," Doc Robbins told her.

"How far along was she?" Catherine wanted to know.

"About six weeks," David answered.

"She knew," Catherine nodded.

* * *

><p>Cameras flashed in the coffee shop as Nick took photos of evidence markers three and four. They were marking blood spatter. After taking the photos, Nick collected a swab of the blood. Brass was playing with Kady as Nick removed a bullet casing from the wall.<p>

"Another nine millimetre. Just like our casings," Nick observed.

"Yeah. Nine bullets. All the same calibre. Looks like Robson never got a shot off. I wouldn't want him as my bodyguard," Brass remarked as Catherine walked in.

"Need help with the measurements?" Catherine offered.

"Sure," Brass nodded as he ruffled Kady's hair, laughing as Kady grumbled and tried to fix it.

"Captain, I got the manager waiting outside," Officer Metcalf announced.

Brass, Nick and Catherine walked outside with Officer Metcalf where they say the manager, Brad Kendall, standing outside waiting to talk to someone and learn about what happened. Along the way, Nick had grabbed Kady's hand and led her out carefully so she didn't contaminate evidence accidentally.

* * *

><p>"OK," Brass said.<p>

"That's the guy over there," Officer Metcalf pointed for them.

"This one?" Brass wanted to check.

"Yep. That's the one," Officer Metcalf agreed.

Brass cleared his throat once they were close enough, successfully gaining attention, "I'm Detective Brass. Catherine Willows, Nick Stokes from the Crime Lab."

"Brad Kendall. I heard it on the news. They're saying it was some kind of a hit. Where are Erin and Alice?" Brad demanded.

"They didn't make it," Brass answered.

"Did you call their parents?" Brad sighed.

"Once the coroner makes a positive I.D, their families will be notified," Nick promised.

"Shooting occurred around closing time. Is it customary for your employees to close up?" Catherine asked.

"Erin locked up twice a week. 10:00 on the nose. She was training Alice. Moving on at the end of the month. I can't believe they're gone," Brad sobbed.

* * *

><p>Sara and Warrick never had the opportunity to experience interviewing someone with a disability such as hearing loss. So they were going to have trouble with Dr Gilbert when they interview her with an interpreter.<p>

"Dr Gilbert," Sara began loudly as she did something that was wrong – look at the interpreter, causing Dr Gilbert to not be able to see what Sara's saying, "We need your help. Brian Clemonds was murdered."

"Was he having any difficulties?" Warrick asked as he, too, turned to look at the interpreter.

"Anyone have a grudge against him?" Sara questioned, causing Dr Gilbert to shake her head, something that Sara misinterprets, "We understand you don't want a homicide investigation upsetting your students."

"I'm severely deaf. And I can communicate fine," Dr Gilbert proclaimed, surprising Sara and Warrick, "I'd appreciate it if you'd look at me when you speak to me. I wear a hearing aid and I can read lips. You could have asked if I needed an interpreter."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," Sara apologized, still in shock.

"There are 152 students at my school. We live together, we study together, we eat together. We're a family. And Brian is dead," Dr Gilbert rambled.

"Dr Gilbert, we're just following protocol. We need to speak with Brian's friends; his roommates," Warrick requested.

"We'll also need access to his records," Sara added.

"The crime didn't happen here. It happened out there," Dr Gilbert protested.

"I'm not accusing anybody of anything," Sara defended herself.

"Neither am I. But there are more of you, right? Send someone else. Someone with more understanding of this school and my students," Dr Gilbert requested.

"But we're here now. And evidence is time-sensitive," Warrick responded.

"How can you solve a crime without understanding the victim?" Dr Gilbert retorted as she signed something to the interpreter in frustration.

"Um…she's kicking us out," Halley translated, signing an apology to Dr Gilbert.

* * *

><p>Sara and Warrick were just parking their car in the police department parking lot when Grissom got out of his own. Immediately, he wanted to know how it went.<p>

"Hey," Warrick greeted.

"How'd it go at the college?" Grissom asked.

"They're not cooperating," Sara answered.

"Yeah. We didn't have a warrant. So she kicked us out," Warrick explained.

"What did you do?" Grissom demanded.

"What did we do?" Sara repeated, "We met with the president. Asked a few questions."

"She was kind of hostile," Warrick recalled.

"Like it's out fault we can hear," Sara added.

"Alright. Let's go," Grissom decided.

* * *

><p>Dr Gilbert was working behind her desk when she heard the door open. When she looked up, she saw that Sara and Warrick had returned even after she had told them to stay away. However, this time, they came back with a new face. And that new face is Grissom.<p>

"Dr Gilbert? I'm Gil Grissom with the Crime Lab. You kicked my people out of your office," Grissom said.

"Well, I'm kicking you out too," Dr Gilbert said harshly as she stood up and indicated to the door as if she was saying, 'There's the door. Don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out.'

Grissom held his hands up to stop her from doing so. He continued to speak to her. But…he did something else as he spoke to her. He spoke with more than his mouth.

He spoke with his hands.

"Look. Your student is dead. Don't you want to know who's responsible?" Grissom asked, signing as he spoke, "I do."

Sara and Warrick turned to look at each other. Surprise was written all over their faces. The same thought was echoing in their heads.

Since when did Grissom know sign language?

"Your people can't solve this crime," Dr Gilbert continued to protest.

"Why? 'Cause they don't understand the victim? Help them understand," Grissom pleaded her, continuing to sign.

"When a deaf person meets a hearing person, the hearing person so much as says, 'I'm normal. You're not'," Dr Gilbert pointed out.

"Is that what you think I'm saying? A student is dead. Maybe you feel responsible. Maybe you're angry. But don't be angry with us. We want to help you," Grissom promised her.

"If I agree to cooperate, you will include me in your investigation?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Yes. I will. I welcome your involvement. Now may I see Brian Clemonds' file? Please?" Grissom asked.

* * *

><p>"I did nothing wrong," Dr Gilbert stated as Grissom looked through his file in the file room.<p>

"Brian filed six complaints against his roommate – Paul Arrington," Grissom observed.

"Paul lost his hearing less than a year ago – a tumour. He hasn't adjusted. He's angry," Dr Gilbert explained.

"And he took it out on Brian. Assaulted him. Brian requested a new roommate. Request denied?" Grissom read in disbelief.

"There were no other available beds," Dr Gilbert defended her actions.

"I want to speak to Paul," Grissom requested.

"He doesn't read lips or sign," Dr Gilbert warned.

Grissom also signed what his statement, "You don't need to hear or speak to communicate. Or…commit murder."

* * *

><p>"So you going to tell us how you learned to sign?" Sara asked as she, Grissom and Warrick waited in the hallway for Paul to arrive.<p>

"No," Grissom answered.

"Well, the president of the college is a real whack job," Sara said.

"Sara, you see deafness as a pathology. For Dr Gilbert, her deafness is not her handicap. It's her way of life," Grissom immediately came to Dr Gilbert's defence.

"You know, I think you might be siding with her," Sara accused.

"As long as you see this as us versus them, you're going to have problems on this case," Grissom warned.

"The roommate's here," Warrick announced as he turned and saw Dr Gilbert approaching them…

With Paul Arrington.

* * *

><p>"This explains what we're doing," Grissom told Dr Gilbert as he handed her a piece of paper, "<em>I need for Paul to read it.<em>"

"What was that all about?" Sara wanted to know as she shut the door to the observation room, "Grissom signs!"

"Do you know what Grissom drinks when he goes out at night?" Warrick asked.

"He goes out?" Sara repeated in disbelief.

"Exactly. The only person who would know the most about this guy is our four-year-old goddaughter," Warrick stated before watching Grissom place a headband on Paul's head, "Hey. Check this out."

"Oh, I've read about this machine. Very Frankenstein," Sara remarked.

"Brain printing. They call it a visual polygraph," Warrick explained.

"You've used one of these before?" Sara asked in amazement.

"Yeah. Around the same time Kadelin was born, Grissom and I used one to interview this rapist. The guy was mute but his brain waves spoke loud and clear," Warrick recalled.

"So you show the suspect slides of the crime scene and if he's our guy…," Sara started.

"Then the oscillator will give him away," Warrick finished.

* * *

><p>Grissom had set the machine up and was beginning to show numerous slides for Paul to see. The first one was of Dr Gilbert. Grissom studied the monitor carefully.<p>

"Good, he recollects you," Grissom observed as he changed the photo to one of the college, "He recollects the college."

The next slide was a no-brainer. Even Grissom knew this. How can Paul not remember the person he shares a room with?

"He recollects Brian," Grissom stated as he changed the photo to one of the crime scene, "This is the shot of the crime scene. …no recollection."

Then he changed the photo to the last one in the slideshow: the photo of Brian dead on the road. Paul tried not to show it. But the sight of his roommate like that upset him. Immediately, he began to regret taking his anger out on Brian. It wasn't his fault he ended up with a tumour. Something like that can happen to anyone – even the healthiest person on the planet. It also wasn't his fault that he lost his hearing because of said brain tumour. That was something that couldn't be predicted. Inwardly, he relaxed when Dr Gilbert rubbed his shoulder in comfort. However, he could help but wonder what would have happened if he wasn't like that to Brian?

Would he still be dead?

"No recollection of the crime scene or of Brian under these conditions," Grissom sighed as he turned off the monitor and disconnected Paul from the oscillator.

Grissom grabbed the pen and pad that was before them so Brian could communicate to them. He wrote three words before pushing the pad back towards Paul:

_I'm sorry, Paul_

Grissom stepped back, allowing everything to sink in for Paul. Paul just shook his head and pushed the pad away. He wasn't ready to accept this. Not yet. Paul walked out of the room. Dr Gilbert went to follow…not without a final word with Grissom.

"If you want to find the killer, look outside the school."

* * *

><p>"GRISSOM!"<p>

Catherine's yell immediately caused Grissom to spin around. However, her yell was muffled. It was then that he removed the earplugs from his ears and placed them on his desk. As soon as he did, the sounds of the office life greeted his ears. The taps from the keyboards. The shrill ring of the phone. The chatter of the employees. Everything. Something he lived without for hours.

"Sorry. I was thinking," Grissom apologized.

"About what it's like to be deaf?" Catherine guessed.

"About what it's like to hear," Grissom corrected.

"Sara told me that you spoke in sign and now you're putting plugs in your ears," Catherine observed.

"I'm on a case," was all Grissom said.

Catherine just hummed and asked, "Is that why you forgot about the conference?"

"The what?" Grissom stuttered in confusion.

"You missed the deadline. No Chicago for me," Catherine announce, causing Grissom's face to fall in recollection.

"Oh, Catherine," Grissom sighed.

"This is the one meeting I needed to attend. I don't always want to be second banana. I can probably do your job. I know that I can do Ecklie's," Catherine remarked.

Grissom couldn't come up with any argument for that. Catherine had pretty good points. When he leaves, she would be the one he would choose to take over as Graveyard supervisor. And…there was no doubt that she can do Ecklie's job better than Ecklie. It's not that hard really. Ecklie gets promotions because he kisses butt…and he MIGHT be more political than Grissom.

"I forgot. I'm so sorry," Grissom apologized.

"Make sure to submit the paperwork by the end of the day," Catherine requested.

"I thought you said that it was too late!" Grissom protested.

"Well, I knew you'd forget so I upped the deadline. Gave you a buffer. Don't forget again," was all Catherine said before leaving the room and Grissom began searching his desk for the paperwork, "Oh. Does anyone know you sign?"

"I teach Kadelin," Grissom answered.

"That girl is too smart for her own good," Catherine grumbled before leaving.

* * *

><p>"Those the tire treads from the crime scene?" Warrick guessed as he walked into the lab carrying an evidence box and setting it on the table.<p>

Sara nodded before proceeding to explaining what she was doing, "I photo'ed the victim's torso and imaged the tread mark – scanned it – got it running through a tread assistance CD ROM."

"Any hits?" Warrick asked.

"Not yet. CD database. 11033 patterns," Sara answered, causing Warrick to exhale as he took out Brian's jumper, "Could take a while."

"Yeah," Warrick immediately agreed.

"What are you doing?" Sara wanted to know.

"Checking out the dead guy's clothes," Warrick answered as he noticed a familiar creepy crawly crawling on Brian's jumper, "Whoa. What are these?"

"What?" Sara asked as she walked over to take a look.

"They look like lice," Warrick observed, causing Sara to back away.

"Lice?" Sara repeated.

"Wasn't our dead guy clean?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah. He was. Lice adhere to hair follicles. I didn't find any stray hairs on him," Sara recalled. **(Me: Oh great. Jason: What? Me: My head's really itchy. Jason: You don't have lice, do you? Me: No! You know that thing where whenever someone mentions lice, your head starts itching? Jason: Oh yeah. That psychosomatic thing. Me: I hate it.)**

"Well, he was in a fight, right? Maybe his attacker had lice and they crawled off on his sweater and they got comfy and the stray hair blew away," Warrick shrugged as Grissom walked into the room.

"Hey. Any luck on the tire treads?" Grissom asked.

"Computer's still processing," Sara answered, "But Warrick found something pretty interesting."

"You know anything about lice?" Warrick wanted to know.

"Yeah. They make your head itch. And, after head colds, the most common medical problem affecting children," Grissom responded.

"Little problem no one talks about, huh?" Warrick remarked as Greg ran into the lab.

"Hey, Grissom. Can I see you a second? Stat," Greg requested before waving at Sara and running off.

"Stay in the tire treads," Grissom instructed Sara, "Warrick?"

"Yeah. Right behind you," Warrick requested as they left after he got a sample of the lice.

Sara continued to examine through the evidence on the table while waiting for a match for the tire treads. She poured out all the contents of one bag onto the table. It was the broken taillight. Immediately, she looked at the serial numbers. However, it was incomplete.

"A few more numbers and this would have been cake," Sara grumbled.

* * *

><p>"Guess who used to sign Brad Kendall's paychecks six years ago?" Brass challenged Catherine as they sat in his office.<p>

"Frankie Flynn," Catherine answered as she read the headline Brass was holding up: IT'S A HIT, FRANKIE FLYNN MURDERED!

"Oh yeah," Brass nodded as Brad walked into the office, "Hey, Brad. Thanks for coming in. We just got a few more questions."

"Sure," Brad nodded as Brass and Catherine sat down again (they stood when he walked in).

"So you used to work for Frankie Flynn?" Brass asked.

"Yeah. At the Orpheus. I was a waiter in the coffee shop. He came in all the time," Brad recalled.

"Sit down. Sit down," Brass invited, causing Brad to sit down, "Did you see him outside the coffee shop?"

"Once in a while," Brad sighed, "He owned the place. He was everywhere."

"Why don't you tell us about your CCW permit?" Catherine suggested.

"I make cash deposits. I carry a concealed weapon," was all Brad said.

"What kind?" Catherine asked.

"Glock. Nine millimetre," Brad answered.

"We'll need to see the weapon and any spare ammo," Brass requested.

"Yeah. Of course. I'll bring it in," Brad nodded.

* * *

><p>"I am the man!" Greg proclaimed as Grissom and Warrick walked into the lab.<p>

"Why? What did you do?" Warrick asked, "Let me guess. You ran a DNA profile on the blood from the dead guy's knuckles and you got a match."

"No," Greg shook his head.

"You ran a DNA profile and something very distinctive popped up?" Grissom guessed.

"Not quite," Greg disagreed.

"You made it out of bed and you dressed yourself?" Warrick smirked.

"No," Greg grumbled.

"What is it, Greg?" Grissom demanded in frustration, silently wondering why he hired him.

"Just put your nose down the scope," was all Greg said.

Grissom did…and immediately noticed something interesting as well as realise why he hired Greg to begin with.

"Dots of blue light on a red sea," Grissom observed.

"Pyroverdin," Greg proclaimed.

"Pyroverdin. A pigment excreted from pseudomonas aeruginosa which is a bacteria occasionally found in the bloodstream," Grissom explained.

"So what does that give us?" Warrick wanted to know.

"Your killer has fluorescent blue dots in his blood," Greg said.

"So the guy's a glow stick. How does that help us track him down?" Warrick asked.

"Haven't I done enough for one day?" Greg laughed.

"We have a lead," Sara proclaimed as she walked into the DNA lab, "I found a partial serial number on the broken taillight."

"I saw it. It's missing six digits. It's useless," Grissom said.

"Maybe on its own. Bit the tire tread database kicked out a match. The tire belongs to a Ford Explorer. A p235-75, manufactured specifically for their SUVs. Only one with the same partial serial number is registered in Vegas," Sara told them.

"What do you call a guy with blue-dotted blood, lice and keys to a Ford Explorer?" Grissom asked.

"A suspect?" Warrick guessed.

"A killer," Grissom corrected.

* * *

><p>"You found the car that ran over Brian?" Dr Gilbert guessed as Grissom helped her out of the car.<p>

"Yes," Grissom nodded as they headed towards the building, "The SUV's registered to Adam Walkey. He's 18 years old; no prior complaints. We're processing it now. I promised to keep you informed."

"You kept your world," Dr Gilbert beamed.

* * *

><p>Warrick and Sara were investigating the car they had impounded. If they wanted to get a slam dunk on this case, they needed strong evidence. Warrick hummed as he held the scope over the headrest of the driver's seat. Lice were crawling around all over the place.<p>

"Lice?" Sara asked as she shone her flashlight at him.

"Creepy critters in the driver's seat," Warrick answered.

"So…that's why Grissom's late," Sara remarked as she saw Grissom walk in with Dr Gilbert.

"You just don't like other women in his life," Warrick scoffed.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Sara decided.

"Affirmative on the head lice," Warrick told Grissom and Dr Gilbert.

"Taillights match," Sara piped in.

"We have a suspect," Grissom proclaimed.

* * *

><p>"I'm advising Adam to invoke his fifth amendment rights," Randy Painter told Grissom and O'Riley.<p>

"No charges have been filed and I haven't asked a question," O'Riley defended.

"Go ahead and ask. He won't answer," Rand smirked.

"Well, that's why I suggested we meet here. I don't need him to talk. I just want his blood," Grissom said.

"Well, for that, you're going to need a warrant," Randy stated…only to have O'Riley hand him one, "This warrant is for blood…and a scalp search?"

Grissom held up a lice comb and smirked as he said, "It's a licemeister. We're going to comb your hair."

* * *

><p>"Talk to me," Catherine requested as she walked into the ballistics lab, smiling at the sight of Nick leaning against the desk with Kady snuggled into his chest as she slept.<p>

"Good news, bad news. Same calibre, different gun," Nick announced.

"Bobby?" Catherine turned to the ballistics expert, hoping for a different answer.

"Striations don't match," Bobby agreed with Nick as he pointed to the monitor, "The gun that killed those five people at the coffee house isn't your store manager's. The good news is – all the nine millimetre bullets fired at the scene…from the same gun. You're looking for only one guy."

"Well, what about the breach-face marks on the casings?" Catherine asked.

"Indeterminate," Bobby shook his head, earning a hum from Catherine.

"Well, well, looks like you got zip," Catherine remarked as Brass walked into the lab.

"I got a ton of peole out interviewing every two-bit stiff that ever had a beef against Flynn. They're all doing the smart thing – keeping their mouth shut," Brass said.

"So we have no statements or physical evidence indicating it was a hit on Flynn," Catherine sighed.

"What we have is five dead bodies," Nick stated.

"Yeah…why?" Catherine asked.

"You know something I don't know?" Brass wanted to know as he and Catherine looked at Nick.

"Not yet," Catherine shook her head, "Nick?"

"Smoke and mirrors," Nick shrugged, holding Kady tighter as she began to stir, "We'll go in a minute. I just need to see if Greg can babysit Kady."

"I can babysit her!" Brass protested, "She's my goddaughter too, you know."

"What if you get called up to a dangerous crime scene and you can't take her?" Nick retorted.

"I'd pass it on," Brass answered as he settled Kady onto his hip.

* * *

><p>Nick and Catherine found themselves back at the coffee shop. They had the evidence. Now…they just had to piece it all together in a series of unfortunate events.<p>

"If it was a hit, the guy came to the front door, took out Al and Frankie and got the witnesses. Bullets will confirm it. Shooter was standing here when he shot Al," Nick began as he activated the laser and pointed it on the X plastered on the cardboard and continued to do so to correspond with everything he said, "Bam! Once in the chest. This is Flynn. One miss. One hit. One through and through."

"Headphones," Catherine said as she walked over to the cardboard cutout and activated the beams, "Ricochet. Through and through."

They all observed the lasers and where they were pointed on the cardboards representing the victims. Something seemed off about it. They didn't know what. But something was not right. Nick and Catherine hadn't realized it yet when they were programming their laser directionalities onto the computer.

"Each victim gets a different colour. Blue beams are isolated. The kid with the CD player was alone," Nick stated.

"Flynn was closest to the door," Catherine piped in.

"Shooter was positioned between Flynn and the front door. Flynn eats it…? Nah," Nick shook his head, "I would have taken out big Al. Bodyguard first."

"Me too," Catherine agreed.

Nick walked up to the counter and told Catherine about something he found as he placed his hands flat on the counter, "Ident found both of the bodyguards' paws on the counter."

"What if the shooter was here when he shot big Al?" Catherine pondered as she stood in front of Nick from the other side of the counter.

"Big Al would already be dead," Nick answered, "It doesn't make any sense."

"If the shooter walked through the front door," Catherine added.

"What if he came through the back?" Nick suddenly asked.

An idea suddenly sparked in Catherine's head. But she didn't dare to voice it aloud. Not until they had the evidence to prove it. If a person makes a claim, the best thing to have to back up their claims or disprove them is evidence, after all. Nick and Catherine walked through the door towards the back of the coffee shop. Catherine immediately approached the cardboard that was supposed to represent Erin.

"Erin McCarty – the employee who was supposed to close up," Catherine said.

"Yeah. Yeah. Shot twice in the back while headed for the rear exit," Nick recalled the autopsy findings.

Catherine and Nick began searching the area. The feeling that something was off still loomed in the atmosphere around them. The feelings slowly began to disappear when Catherine walked towards the shelves and noticed something behind the keys that were hanging on the hooks. She moved the keys aside and noticed the dent on the metallic shelf. She instantly knew what it was.

"If she was headed towards the parking lot, how do you explain this ricochet?" Catherine asked.

"What?" Nick demanded as he walked over and noticed the small dent before an idea hit him, "Like this."

Nick turned off the lights in the back room and headed for the light on the tripod. When Nick turned it on, Catherine grabbed the small mirror and placed it on the shelf over the ricochet. The mirror reflected the light once Nick had positioned the light on the mirror. The light was shining on a bag of 100% Columbian coffee beans.

There was a bamboo bowl nearby with a paper towel spread out on the bottom of it. Perfect for Nick to examine the contents. He grabbed the bag and poured out some of the contents. As if he was spreading sand in a sandbox, he spread the beans apart looking for the hidden treasure. And he found it.

The missing bullet.

"I love this job," Nick proclaimed.

"The ricochet went out into the store. There's no hole in the door," Catherine recalled as the realization hit her, "There's no hole in the door 'cause the door had to have been open."

"Assuming Erin was running for her life, the shooter follows her in the back room, shoots her twice. He would have been shooting towards the parking lot," Nick pointed out.

"He shot towards the parking lot first and then toward the front of the store," Catherine observed.

"He'd only shoot toward the front if there's somebody there," Nick stated.

"So who was in the line of fire? What if we have it backwards? What if…the shooting began back here…with Erin?" Catherine asked as the full realization began to hit the both of them.

"Yeah and somebody else saw. Frankie Flynn was an innocent bystander. Wrong place, wrong time," Nick remarked.

"The target was Erin…the pregnant girl. And the rest was damage control," Catherine realized.

* * *

><p>"Adam Walkey doesn't have lice?" Warrick said in disbelief.<p>

"Not even lice eggs," Grissom shook his head.

"Maybe he got rid of them since the other night," Sara shrugged.

"Delousing agents take time to kick in. There would have been evidence of the infestation," Grissom retorted as they walked into the DNA lab.

"Hey. Got good news. Walkey's blood sample," Greg trailed off.

"Pseudomonas aeruginosa?" Grissom guessed.

"Fluorescent blue," Greg nodded his head as Grissom looked through the scope to see the comparisons.

"Same as the blood we found on Brian's knuckle," Warrick recalled.

"Greg, start a DNA comparison. This gives us enough to hold Walkey," Grissom stated as he, Sara and Warrick walked out of the DNA lab.

"It's just like Dr Gilbert said. The killer came from out here," Warrick remarked.

"Dr Gilbert can afford her personal bias. We can't. And we need a lot more than day-glo bacteria to get a conviction," Grissom pointed out.

* * *

><p>"You really thing Erin knew she was pregnant? I mean, six weeks?" Nick asked as he and Catherine headed towards the forensic pathology lab, "Abby didn't find out she was pregnant with Kadelin until she was eight weeks. You didn't found out about your pregnancy with Lindsey until you were ten weeks."<p>

"Twenty-year-old girl living a home? She would have taken a test if she was five seconds late – panic city," Catherine remarked, "Besides, it's different for every woman."

"Brass talked to her parents. There was no guy in her life," Nick stated.

"Well, it's not immaculate conception. If the guy was Mr Right, she would have told her folks. Which means he was Mr Wrong. Maybe Mr Married," Catherine smirked as they walked into the forensic pathology lab to talk to Doc Robbins.

"Back for more?" Doc Robbins asked.

"You still have the pregnant girl?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Mortuary is going to pick her up later this afternoon," Doc Robbins answered.

"Stall them. We want a paternity test," Nick requested.

"At six weeks?" Doc Robbins began to protest.

"Six weeks with half of someone else's DNA in her body," Catherine retorted.

* * *

><p>Sara and Warrick were still checking Adam Walkey's SUV. Only this time, they were looking under it. They needed to be thorough in order to make a strong case against Adam. And…Sara just found a way to do just that. She noticed that there was a tear in the muffler. And there was a piece of cloth caught in the tear.<p>

"Check this out. This fabric matches the victim's sweater," Sara observed as she took the sample.

"That's the muffler. And this is the back of the car," Warrick said.

"And the taillight was smashed," Sara added.

"There's no way this car was moving forward when it ran over Brain Clemonds' body," Warrick remarked.

"Who drives backwards on a downtown street?" Sara asked.

* * *

><p>"First degree murder. That's how we see it," O'Riley said to Adam and his attorney.<p>

"It's OK," Randy reassured Adam before turning to O'Riley, "In that case, my client is now prepared to make a statement. Tell him, Adam."

"I may have hit the guy," Adam confessed.

"That's some statement," O'Riley remarked.

"OK. I remember hitting something. It was dark. I-I just kept driving. Didn't look back," Adam lied.

"Adam…we found lice in the driver's seat of your vehicle. But your scalp was clean. Was there anyone else there? A witness who might support your account?" Grissom asked.

Adam sighed before answering, "Yeah. Someone was with me. Mark. Mark Rucker. He can confirm everything I told you."

That was when Dr Gilbert stormed angrily into the interrogation room and glared at Adam, causing Grissom to look up. Immediately, he knew that this wouldn't be good.

"I want to see him. Is that the coward who killed Brian?" Dr Gilbert asked angrily as she approached him and spoke and signed in his face, her voice displaying emotional distress, "What happened? He scare you? Talk a little funny? Make a lot of noises? Screamed? Or maybe he just looked at you the wrong way?"

"Get away from me!" Adam yelled at her.

"You make me sick!" Dr Gilbert spat at Adam as Grissom pulled her out of the room and into the hallway, "You said you'd include me!"

"You offered to help with my investigation and now you're compromising it!" Grissom retorted.

"You found the killer!" Dr Gilbert shot back.

Grissom also signed as he spoke, "Who says it was a hit-and-run. Not murder. He has a witness."

"Who will lie for him!" Dr Gilbert screamed.

"The witness can say whatever he wants. The important thing is that Adam Walkey was not alone when he killed Brian," Grissom told her, causing realization to replace Dr Gilbert's anger, "Until now, I did not know who was with him."

"And now you do," Dr Gilbert said.

"His witness is our other suspect," Grissom proclaimed.

* * *

><p>"911 page. What's up?" Nick asked as he walked into the ballistics lab, causing Bobby to look up from his current work.<p>

"Right gun. Wrong barrel," Bobby announced.

"Son of a bitch swapped the gun barrel out!" Nick exclaimed in disbelief.

"Check this out," Bobby said as he showed Nick the dent on the barrel.

"Could be an incomplete tool mark. Maybe the guy dropped his gun. Either way, we still don't have the barrel," Nick pointed out.

"This is true," Bobby agreed.

"But we've got Kendall's ammo. What about bullet batching?" Nick suggested.

"Match the bunter marks?" Bobby offered.

"Every casing's got two pieces of information on it. Manufacturer and calibre," Nick pointed out.

"Etched in by an electrodischarge machine," Bobby added, "Every casing from a given batch of ammo has the same markings."

"So if you compared the casings we collected at the crime scene with the casings from Brad Kendall's gun…," Nick began.

"On a microscopic level, we should find similar characteristics…," Bobby went on.

"Which would link Brad's ammo to the crime even though we can't link his gun," Nick finished.

"Not as airtight as matching the barrel," Bobby warned.

"But still enough to build a case," Nick retorted.

"What about motive?" Bobby asked.

"Well, Catherine's working on a hunch," Nick shrugged.

* * *

><p>"Me? The father? No way. I'm married. I don't fool around," Brad protested.<p>

"Cover your ears, Sharpie," Brass warned Kady, only continuing until the four-year-old girl in his lap had said so, "Would you like us to explain the mechanics of sex in the workplace?"

"You're the manager. Erin was the employee," Catherine said.

"You had the power. Happens all the time," Brass remarked.

"You got it all wrong," Brad shook his head.

"Maybe we do – we all make mistakes – but just to be sure, why don't you give us a sample of your DAN and you'll be on your way," Catherine suggested.

"I don't believe this. Talk to anyone. I'm not like that!" Brad continued to protest.

"I've got a court order," Brass announced as he slid the piece of paper across the desk.

"It was a one-time thing. I didn't even know she was pregnant," Brad finally confessed.

* * *

><p>"I read him his rights. Last chance for a lawyer," O'Riley warned Mark.<p>

"I didn't do anything. Why would I need a lawyer?" Mark wanted to know.

"Fire away," O'Riley invited Grissom.

"I just have one question. Does your head itch?" Grissom asked.

"Do I have to answer that?" Mark laughed as Grissom walked over with a piece of paper and a lice comb and began combing his hair.

"I'm going to just, uh…rearrange your part a little," Grissom said as he noticed the lice on the paper, "According to Adam Walkey, you were with him in his SUV the other night and your head lice…confirmed his statement. They also tell me that you were driving."

"Yeah, yeah, I was with him. And like he told you, we didn't know he hit the guy," Mark owned up.

"How do you know what Adam told us?" O'Riley demanded, causing Mark to go quiet.

"Now, why don't you tell us what really happened?" Grissom suggested.

"Well, it was around midnight. And we were listening to the radio. I changed the station. Adam got pissed," Mark began revealing what happened.

_Begin flashback_

"_Dude, what are you doing? That song is a classic!" Adam protested._

"_It's not a classic! It's crap! It's always been crap! Now this…this is tight!" Mark retorted…before they heard the thud as they ran over something, "Wh-what was that?"_

"_Probably a dog," Adam shrugged, "Let's get out of here."_

_End flashback_

"We just kept driving," Mark finished his story, "It's the truth."

"The evidence says otherwise," Grissom retorted.

"What are you talking about?" Mark asked.

"Well, there weren't just lice in the SUV. There were lice on the victim's sweater," Grissom revealed.

"So who cares about lice?" Mark scoffed.

"Do you know what lice eat?" Grissom retorted, causing Mark to go quiet, "Blood. I'm pretty sure I can prove that the lice on Brian Clemonds came from your head."

"We got out of the car," Mark recalled.

_Begin flashback_

"_We've got to call the ambulance!" Mark proclaimed._

"_We tell anybody, we are in trouble. We could go to jail!" Adam retorted._

_End flashback_

"But I didn't want to leave him like that. Adam talked me into it. He had a scholarship to Duke next year, you know. He couldn't risk it," Mark said.

"Let me tell you what I think happened," Grissom sighed, "You and Adam saw Brian walking out of a liquor store carrying a six-pack. You're underage. Maybe you wanted him to front you some beer. Brian doesn't respond. Then you got out of the car. You started taunting him. And then everything escalated. The blood on the victim's knuckles led us to Adam. The average male loses 80 hairs a day. A stray hair left behind lice, which brings us to you. It would have ended there. But as you were about to drive away, something caught your attention. Something in your rearview mirror. And you took off."

"I want a lawyer," Mark requested.

"Let me tell you something, son," Grissom said.

"Gil, the interrogation is over. He's requested counsel," O'Riley began to stop him.

"Fine. No more questions," Grissom sighed as he rose to his feet, noticing Mark's smug expression, "Just this. You want to know why Brian Clemonds ran away from you? It was dark, you were shoting at him and he didn't understand what you were saying. Brian Clemonds was deaf. He was afraid of you. But you were more afraid of him…weren't you?"

* * *

><p>"What am I looking at?" Brad asked as Nick and Catherine showed him something on the monitor with Brass walking in behind them.<p>

"Microscopic surface analysis. This ought to make things more clear," Nick remarked.

"A bunter tool makes a unique mark," Catherine pointed out.

"Casings from your gun are on the right. Casings collected from the crime scene are on the left," Nick indicated to the casings to prove his point.

"They're identical. You came here that night…to kill Erin," Catherine proclaimed, "You came in through the back. Erin was in the office. Alice saw so you shot her. You thought that Erin had locked up. But there was a kid drinking coffee. And then things got out of hand."

_Begin flashback_

"_We've gotta talk," Brad said to Erin._

"_I'm tired of talking to you," Erin sighed._

"_Listen to me!" Brad pleaded._

_"I'm tired of listening to you!" Erin exclaimed._

"_I will take care of this," Brad promised._

"_All you take care of is yourself!" Erin scoffed._

"_Erin, think! Use your head for once! I'm not going to let you ruin my life!" Brad screamed at her, neither of them noticing that Alice was overhearing their argument._

"_I already have thought about it! I'm going to have this baby and you are going to support it," Erin proclaimed before walking away, "I'll let you know if it's a boy or girl."_

_That was the last straw for Brad. He wasn't going to let her ruin his life – his marriage – with a mistake. He grabbed his gun and shot her twice in the back. Erin fell to the ground dead. Alice's gasp of shock gave away her observation. Brad turned around and saw Alice standing there. Everything went into overdrive then. He shot at Alice but he missed. The bullet ricocheted off of the shelf and into the bag of coffee beans._

_Alice had ran out of the back room, shutting the door behind her, hoping to buy some time. However, that didn't stop Brad. He was determined to leave no witness alive to tell the tale. Brad followed Alice out and shot her, killing her instantly. Then he noticed the customer at the table. He got shot too. Then…_

_Frankie and Al walked in._

_They met the same fate._

_End flashback_

"Brad Kendall, you're under arrest for the murder of Frankie Flynn, Al Robson, Roy Hinton, Alice Neely and Erin McCarty," Brass proclaimed.

"Six weeks pregnant with your child," Nick sighed, looking at him in disbelief as Brad looked down.

"I didn't mean for it to happen like that. I just wanted to talk," Brad defended himself.

"Is that why you brought your gun?" Catherine retorted.

* * *

><p>"Some people are just afraid," Grissom finished explaining how Brian died to Dr Gilbert, bouncing Kady in his lap a little (he stole her from Brass).<p>

"And that's why they killed Brian. Because he was different. You and your goddaughter don't see us a different," Dr Gilbert stated.

"You're not," Grissom and Kady said.

"Who taught you to sign?" Dr Gilbert asked, signing as she did.

"My mother," Grissom revealed, signing as well.

"What about you, Kadelin?" Dr Gilbert asked.

"Uncle Gil," Kady answered, signing as well…well trying to.

"You are doing well, Kadelin. It takes practice," Dr Gilbert reassured her before saying to Grissom, "Tell me about your mother. And use your hands. You're a little rusty."

Grissom smiled sheepishly at her before beginning to sign his background story on sign language **(AN: Very loose translation from someone I know who knew sign language. It's not perfect.)**,

"She lost her hearing when she was eight. She loved to swim. I asked her what it was like to be deaf. She told me to sick my head under the water."

"True," Dr Gilbert laughed.

"She taught me not to make fun of…"

* * *

><p><strong>MAN! THAT WAS HARD TO WRITE! Next episode better be an easy one to write! *<strong>**after watching the next episode***** I've got my work cut out for me. Man! It seems the further we get into the show, the harder the episodes become to rewrite! You're lucky I love you guys.**

**BYE!**


	22. Justice is Served

**Hey, guys. I've got another CSI story underway. So keep an eye out for it. Man. I need to update **_**Starcrossed**_**_Love_.**

**Here it is!**

**Title: Elevators**

**Summary: Two CSI-1s are about to begin their first day of work at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. One is a Texan from a large family. The other is a small-town girl from New Mexico. A chance encounter in an elevator brought them together. Nick Stokes and Abby Nelson were in Las Vegas to make a new start and hope for a family. They didn't expect to fall for each other and be just what they needed. Nick/OC**

**In canon with story: Yes**

**Rating: M for certain reasons ;)**

**One-shot or multi-chapter: multi-chapter**

**Spanning from: first meeting to a year after Kadelin's birth**

**Justice is Served: A jogger is gruesomely killed during a vicious dog attack in the park. Grissom, Nick and Warrick discover that his liver was surgically removed just moments later. Meanwhile, Sara grows concerned when Catherine gets emotionally involved in their case, which involves the death of a six-year-old girl on a carnival ride.**

**Next, Evaluation Day: Grissom reaches the day he has to evaluate his team. However, the cases that are thrown at the Graveyard shift delay him from the evaluations. Along with Catherine, he deals with the discovery of a severed head in the trunk of a car while Sara and Nick investigate a headless body that appears to fell from the sky. Warrick is in charge of a murder in a juvenile detention centre where his young friend James is the only witness.**

**Then, Strip Strangler: A signature killer is torturing, raping and killing young women who are single parents to daughters under the age of five and brutally killing their daughters. Grissom and his team find catching the Strip Strangler to be a challenge as he possesses satisfactory knowledge of forensics to leave very little evidence behind. Much to Grissom's dismay, the Sheriff decides to involve Special Agent Culpepper from the FBI. Unfortunately, the anger that Nick and Grissom share only grows when he want to use Sara and Kady as bait.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>Grissom, Warrick and Nick received an interesting call to the mountain trial in the park. A runner was found dead. Their job was to find out what happened. But what they didn't know as they let an officer lead them to the body is…<p>

This case would take numerous twisted turns.

"Aw, jeez," the officer moaned as he walked away to throw up.

"Alright, Guy?" Warrick asked as Nick knelt next to the body.

"I guess he won't be eating dinner tonight," Nick remarked as he snapped a photograph…or two.

"I think running man was attacked up there and then dragged or slid down here," Grissom said as he noticed the drag marks from the top of the hill leading down to the body.

"Look at this wounds," Warrick whistled.

"He picked the wrong time of day to be running alone. Dusk is when the animals come out," Nick stated as he continued taking photos of the body and Grissom examined the victim's wounds.

"Yeah. From what I hear, they carved out a piece of this valley when they made the park," Warrick said, "Some mountain lion probably didn't like getting relocated. Mountain lions are brutal."

"And smart," Grissom piped in as he removed the torn shirt to show a wound before looking at Nick and Warrick with an innocent expression, "This one evidently knows how to use a scalpel."

Insert main credits here

Grissom automatically headed towards his office upon his return to the Crime Lab. What surprised him is Catherine walking out of the office with their sleeping goddaughter in her arms. Immediately, he knew that something was up.

"Catherine. What are you doing?" Grissom asked.

"The carnival case. I'm taking it," Catherine proclaimed.

"The carnival case?" Grissom repeated in confusion.

"A six-year-old girl died on a ride at the carnival over on Washington," Catherine explained, "The paperwork's on your desk."

"Did you straighten up my office while you were in there?" Grissom joked.

"You think I overstepped?" Catherine questioned, earning a shake in the head from Grissom, "These people come to town, they commit crimes and they leave. I just want to get there before the carnival moves on."

"OK. Take Sara with you," Grissom instructed.

"She's meeting me there,' Catherine sighed as she gently handed Kady over, "Do me a favour. Can you drop Kady off at the DNA lab? Nick told me I could babysit her until I got a case and then I had to ask Greg to watch her."

"Do you have to ask?" Grissom retorted as he headed towards the DNA lab and handed Kady to Greg, "She's your responsibility. Don't play your music too loud. Make sure she doesn't run off. Ensure that she's hydrated and fed and find ways to keep her entertained when she wakes up. There's nothing worse than unentertained toddlers."

"I babysit her way more than everyone else in the lab and PD. I know the drill," Greg reminded him.

* * *

><p>"So, Doc, how big of a cat are we actually dealing with here?" Warrick asked Doc Robbins as Grissom walked into the autopsy room.<p>

"We're not," Doc Robbins answered.

"We're not?" Grissom repeated in surprise.

"You ever owned a kitten? When you play with them, they don't just bite. They scratch. Doesn't matter whether they're tabbies or tigers. And there's no signs of claw wounds on the victim," Doc Robbins explained.

"So what are we dealing with?" Nick voiced the question everyone was thinking.

"Forget whiskers. Think spot. Teeth marks look canine. Bit him right through the jugular," Doc Robbins observed.

"I was wrong about the species," Grissom confessed.

"I'll make a mould of the bite. If we're lucky, we can narrow it down to breed," Doc Robbins decreed as Grissom noticed Nick and Warrick acting strangely.

"What?" Grissom demanded.

"Most people don't admit when they're wrong," Nick pointed out.

"I'm wrong all the time. That's how I eventually get it right," Grissom shrugged.

"You weren't wrong about the scalpel," Doc Robbins piped in, "Whoever removed this guy's organs knew how to handle one."

"So a dog killed him then someone came along and cut him up," Nick surmised.

"Someone with two legs and a medical degree," Grissom added.

* * *

><p>"Thanks," Sara muttered to the police officer as he lifted the tape for her and Catherine.<p>

They approached the body of the young girl laying on the floor outside the Tunnel of Love. Her hair and clothes were soaked with water. Her skin was white as snow. And not like Snow White. Her eyes were wide open staring at nothing. Catherine immediately felt her heart go out towards the young girl and became even more determined to catch whoever did this to her if there was someone involved in this accident. Inwardly, she couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if it was Lindsey or Kady. Lindsey mostly since the two girls were around the same age and Kady was two years younger. So that was why she went off at the coroner when he went to place the child in the body bag.

"Stop. What are you doing? That bag's been used 100 times. Get her a new one," Catherine requested firmly.

"They get washed every time, right?" Sara asked in confusion.

"Yeah. With disinfectant," the coroner's assistant nodded.

"She gets this one," Catherine decreed as she pulled out a new body bag from the coroner's van.

"Yes, ma'am," the coroner's assistant nodded nervously, not wanting to face more of Catherine's wrath.

"She looks scared. No six-year-old should have to go through that," Catherine sighed.

"You OK?" Sara asked worriedly as she watched her colleague steadily, causing Catherine to turn to face her.

"Why don't you go find the mother and talk to her?" Catherine suggested, "I'll take the crime scene."

"OK," Sara nodded as she headed towards the mother, Carla Dantini, and her boyfriend, Hugh Young.

"I don't know what happened. One minute Sandy was laughing, holding my hand. And the next…the next, sh…oh my God," Carla sobbed as she turned away.

_Begin flashback_

_Carla and Sandy were sitting next to each other, talking and laughing happily as their car entered the tunnel. Carla had her arm around Sandy's shoulders, holding her close. However…_

_It still happened._

"_MUMMY!" Sandy screeched as she fell into the water, causing Carla to stand frantically as she felt around the water for her daughter._

"_SANDY! SANDY, WHERE ARE YOU?" Carla screamed._

_End flashback_

"I…I got out of the car. But I couldn't find her. By the time I got the operators to stop the ride, she was dead," Caral finished her story.

"How can this happen? At a carnival?" Hugh asked.

* * *

><p>"Go back to the crime scene. Collect the dog's scat," Nick recited the words Grissom said to he and Warrick before they returned to the crime scene, causing Warrick to laugh, "I didn't realize how many dogs take their walks up here when I said that."<p>

"Yeah. But I bet Grissom did," Warrick pointed out, "And you're just sad that you couldn't bring Kadelin with you."

"Are you kidding me? You know how she likes to run off. We'd be spending more time finding her than finding any evidence in general," Nick retorted…before it started to rain.

"This sucks!" Warrick whined as they continued to look around, "But it's evidence right?"

"No. Hair and fibre is evidence, Warrick. This is combat duty!" Nick retorted as Warrick found something.

"Yeah. It's somebody's doody," Warrick remarked as the referred to the scat he found.

"Don't even waste your time. That's cougar," Nick observed.

"How do you figure that?" Warrick asked.

Before answering Warrick's question, Nick reached down and picked up the scat before shining his flashlight over it, "See the rabbit hair in the feces? Don't you remember the seminar?"

"Seminar?" Warrick repeated in confusion.

"Julie?" Nick rephrased.

"Julie. Oh…a CSI should not be that fine," Warrick remarked, causing Nick to chuckle as he found something, "What is that?"

"Looks like dirty ice," Nick answered.

"Yeah, well, I'm taking it into evidence," Warrick decided as he placed the ice in a container.

"It's evidence of a picnic, Warrick!" Nick stated.

"Yeah, well…we'll see," Warrick retorted.

* * *

><p>"We've never had a problem with this ride. This is the safest ride we've got," Thomas Pickens said to Catherine as she interviewed him about Sandy's death.<p>

"Not anymore. So you didn't know that anything was wrong until this car came out of the tunnel, right?" Catherine asked.

"As soon as the mum started screaming, I stopped the ride," Thomas recalled.

"Seat belt's loose," Catherine pointed out after tugging on the seat belt a few times.

"I check those every morning," Thomas reassured the CSI without looking her in the eyes.

"Did you check this one?" Catherine demanded, earning a quiet 'yeah' from Thomas, "So do you strap the riders in or do they do it themselves?"

"Lady, it's the Tunnel of Love. Not Colossus. People like to get up close and personal on this ride," Thomas stated.

"So you keep the belts loose on purpose. Loose enough for adults to get close or six-year-old kids to slide through?" Catherine retorted as she picked up her kit and stormed into the tunnel.

* * *

><p>The light on her camera flashed as she took photos of the tunnel while walking through it. Slowly, she could feel the case beginning to affect her even more. Especially when she walked into the water. It was only a foot and a half deep. Maybe shallower. Sandy shouldn't have been able to drown in this.<p>

Hold on. She found something else. A hammer. Then she noticed the fresh markings on the rail. Immediately, she knew why the hammer was there and she knew what the fresh marking were.

* * *

><p>"Officer, give us a minute," Catherine requested as she approached Thomas and the officer, causing the officer to leave, "You tampered with the evidence."<p>

"Ma'am, I don't know what you're talking about," Thomas lied.

"Spare me the hee haw routine. You run this nightmare on wheels. I found this in there," Catherine retorted, showing him the hammer, "You sent one of your employees into that tunnel to fix the track where that little girl was killed to cover your ass?"

"Glad you found that. 'Cause puppy's been missing since I rolled into Vegas. Look, I, uh…I'm sorry as the next jim-jim about what happened, ma'am. But I ain't got nothing to do with it," Thomas defended himself as he scratched his arm, causing Catherine to grab a cub from the nearby booth and hold it out to him.

"Field test for drugs. I'm sure you've done this before," Catherine remarked.

"You can't make me take a drug test," Thomas scoffed as Sara walked up and listened on.

"Oh. Before you came to Nevada, you should have looked up the law. Mandatory drug testing wherever there's been an accident. Pee. Now. And don't tell me your shy," Catherine said as she told the officer, "Stay on him."

After the officer and Thomas left, Sara repeated Catherine's words, knowing that there's no such thing in a case like this, "Mandatory drug testing?"

"Yeah, well, they should be. And I don't have to wait for the results to know that guy's coked out of his brain," Catherine said.

"Cocaine bugs," Sara shook her head in disgust.

"Oh…crawling all under his skin," Catherine agreed.

* * *

><p>"Like David Crosby said, big fella: 'If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of my teeth'," Grissom recited as he examined the mould of the bite impressions from the victim's body.<p>

"Right you are, Mr Crime Scene Investigator," Greg said as he walked into the office and sat down, "You know, most dogs have 42 teeth but, as you discovered, your Cujo only has 41. Woof-woof."

"Did you ever hear a dog say 'woof-woof', Greg?" Grissom wondered, earning a shrug from Greg, "I mean, what is the origin of that? And what do we sound like to them, I wonder."

"I don't know. Probably blah, blah, blah," Greg shrugged.

"Did you come here with some particular 'blah, blah, blah' for me?" Grissom asked impatiently.

"Yes. Two words: paw prints. Your dentally-challenged killer left them all over the vic's clothes," Greg told him.

"Greg, you know that paw prints are not the same as fingerprints," Grissom pointed out.

"True. And even if they were, we don't have the database. But they can tell you the size of the dog," Greg retorted.

"And?" Grissom pressed.

"And, according to my sagacious calculations, this is a big dog. At least a hundred pounds," Greg said.

"Now if we can figure out where he went to medical school, we'll be home free," Grissom remarked, earning a hum in confusion from Greg, "The, uh, big dog is a Great Dane-Mastiff mix."

"So my paw prints didn't even help," Greg pouted.

"No. Odontology did. Dr Robbins' dental mould. But, uh, it's always nice to have a visit with you, Greg," Grissom smirked.

"Thank you. So now you think you're going to find this dog?" Greg asked.

"The array of the bite the squarish impression of the jaw are unique to a Dane or Dane mix," Grissom read from his file, "And there are only 40 registered in the greater Las Vegas area. So if one of them is owed a visit by the tooth fairy…yes…I think I can."

* * *

><p>"Corn. Hamburger. Rawhide. But no human cellular tissue in this sample," Nick observed as he stood up and grabbed a container.<p>

"Only thirty more jars to go," Warrick stated as Grissom walked into the trace lab unnoticed, "This is rough, man. We should be pulling better cases by now. Millionaire murders. Casino heists."

"It's interesting how we categorize evidence in terms of what it means to us as opposed to what it might mean to case," Grissom remarked, announcing his presence to the two CSIs.

"Uh, we're supposed to like scat patrol?" Warrick scoffed.

"Sometimes we deal with bugs, worms, waste or worse. But as scientists, we look beyond the possibly offensive qualities of these things to what they might tell us about the puzzle we're trying to solve," Grissom stated.

"Yeah," Warrick scoffed again.

"Man, do you turn it on like this at your seminars?" Nick laughed.

"People actually pay to go to my seminars, Nick," Grissom retorted, "We've I.D'd the dog."

"Well, if he's got bits of jogger hanging out of his mouth, cuff him," Nick joked.

"I pulled those rap sheets. Called around," O'Riley announced as he walked into the trace lab.

"And?" Grissom pressed.

"The one with the missing tooth is no angel. He attacked a gasman checking a meter. Took a chunk of thigh and severed a testicle," O'Riley told them, causing Nick and Warrick to cringe.

* * *

><p>Grissom and O'Riley walked up to the residence that owned the dog in question. O'Riley rang the doorbell, causing the door inside to begin barking like mad. A woman opened the door to greet the two men.<p>

"Can I help you?" she wanted to know.

"Are you Susan Hillridge?" O'Riley asked.

"Yes," Susan nodded before adding, "Doctor Hillridge."

No sooner had they made the introduction, the dog in question barked and trotted over to them. Barking again, he jumped onto Grissom with his paws resting on his shoulders comfortably, standing on his hind legs and bringing his face close to Grissom's. Grissom held the dog's paws as he tried to avoid the dog's tongue as he tried to lick him in greeting. In the background, O'Riley and the police officers that had accompanied them were reaching for their guns.

"Is this your dog, Doctor?" Grissom asked.

"Yes. Simba," Susan answered, clearly amused.

"Well, you have a problem," Grissom proclaimed.

Her face showed no surprise as she responded with, "Oh no. Not again."

* * *

><p>Before they knew it, Grissom and O'Riley were standing outside the front door with Susan questioning her.<p>

"What makes you think that Simba had anything to do with that jogger's death?" Susan wanted to know.

"There have been complaints about your dog in the past," Grissom stated.

"Your meter reader's singing soprano," O'Riley piped in.

"Oh, I get it now. You're talking about my old dog, Dickie. He was aggressive. That's why I put him down. Simba just gets out of the yard a lot," Susan said as she indicated to the dog that was being restrained by two officers.

"The dog we're looking for is missing a tooth," Grissom told her, "I noticed that Simba is also missing a tooth."

"OK. He is missing a tooth. But he just gets out and wrestles with neighbors' garbage cans. He's not a violent dog," Susan shook her head in disbelief.

"That may be. We still have to take him into custody until we can determine whether or not he had any involvement in this homicide," Grissom warned.

"Officers, go ahead! He's all yours!" O'Riley called to the two officers.

"You're making a mistake," Susan said as the officers led Simba away.

"You said that you were a doctor. May I ask your specialty?" Grissom asked.

"Nutrician. My patients are mostly professional athletes," Susan answered.

"Do you ever consult with amateur athletes? Like marathoners?" Grissom questioned.

"You mean like that jogger? What was his name?" Susan asked.

"Terry Manning," Grissom revealed.

"Doesn't ring a bell. And I'm very good with names, Mr Grissom. You'll let me know when I can pick up Simba," Susan requested.

"You're assuming a lot," Grissom said.

"So are you," Susan retorted.

* * *

><p>"So you did the tox screen on my camy?" Catherine asked as she walked over to Kady sitting on the couch, "Hey, sunshine."<p>

"Hi," Kady greeted as she and Catherine shared a hug.

"Roger that. You know, I have seen guys drink, like, five gallons of water to try and dilute their urine. It's the old straight flush. But all bad boy Sanders has to do is just test their specific gravity and – BLAMMO! – I can still catch their toxic butts," Greg boasted proudly.

"Mn-hmm. So?" Catherine pressed.

"So your guy didn't do that," Greg announced.

"Great. What did he do? Try and mask it?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Nope," Kady shook her head.

"Oh come on. That creep tested clean?" Catherine exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah. For someone who's on the pill," Greg answered.

"What?" Catherine said as Greg pointed to the monitor.

"He's got synthetic estrogen in his urine sample," Greg observed, "Should modulate his mood swings."

"Oldest trick in the book," Catherine sighed, "Somebody else's urine. Probably keeps a stash in his trailer and that uniform was too green to look for it."

"Isn't that in the constitution somewhere? A man's inalienable right to pee in private?" Greg wanted to know.

"Hey," Sara greeted as she walked into the DNA lab.

"Hi, SJ!" Kady smiled happily.

"Hey, KT," Sara responded happily, "I just got off the phone with OSHA. Our carnival has violations in eight states."

"What a surprise," Catherine remarked in sarcasm.

"But that's not all. More than half these guys have records. And Pickens, the boss? His real name is Roger Peet. He's a convicted sex offender on parole," Sara proclaimed.

"Let's go," Catherine said as she and Sara kissed Kady's cheeks and left the lab.

"Wanna help me put really bad guys away?" Greg asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Let's do it," Kady smirked.

* * *

><p>"How was I supposed to know she's 16 and a half?" Thomas scoffed in the interrogation room, "From the neck down, she was all grown up. You know what I mean?"<p>

From his position against the wall, Brass doesn't smile as he answered Thomas' question, "I have a teenage daughter. So no. I don't know what you mean."

"Jerry Lee Lewis, man. Same thing happened to him. What's all this got to do with the little dead girl, anyway?" Thomas wanted to know.

"You tell us," Sara challenged.

"I was walking down the midway and I see this woman come whishing out of the tunnel, screaming for her daughter. Me and Joey – he's the operator – we hit the kill switch, stopped the ride, ran in the tunnel and looked for the kid. And I seen her laying facedown in the pool of water. That's it," Thomas recalled.

"What did you do?" Catherine asked.

"I didn't do nothing. She was dead. I didn't come within two feet of her. I'm sorry about what happened. But that's all I know," Thomas promised as he leaned back into his seat.

Catherine leaned forward as she made a promise that she very much intended to keep, "If you so much as breathed on this child, the evidence will tell me. You can dope your urine, change your name, compare yourself to Elvis himself; but if you harmed Sandy Dantini, I'm going to get you."

With that promise made, Catherine stormed out of the interrogation room. Sara was worried. She knew that the case was affecting Catherine a lot since she has a daughter herself. Personally, it was affecting her as well. After all, the victim was only six years old. A child. Eventually, she followed your friend.

* * *

><p>"You worried you tipped your hand in there?" Sara guessed as she joined Catherine in the hallway.<p>

"No," Catherine shook her head.

"Look. Don't bite my head off. But any chance you're going after this guy because you're a mother?" Sara asked, causing Catherine to stop and turn to face her.

"Pickens is a drug addict and sex offender operating a two-ton kid magnet," Catherine retorted, causing Sara to mutter in agreement, "Did you take a look at that carnival?"

"Maybe," Sara answered.

"Did you notice anything about those other rides? Ferris wheel – single cars in the open. Zipper – single cars in the open. Himalaya – group cars in the open. How come Pickens was hanging around the only ride that takes kids into the dark?" Catherine wanted to know before asking, "What if he pulled that little girl out of the car?"

"You have anything to support that?" Sara asked, causing Catherine to turn and walk away, "Hey! We aren't going to lunch, are we?"

* * *

><p>"Simba's mould's still damp. But you can see it's a perfect match to the bite mark on the jogger," Grissom observed.<p>

"Does this mean Simba's going to the big dog pound in the sky?" Nick asked.

"No. We need to build some more evidence. Find some jogger in Simba's stool," Grissom answered.

"Well, I can tell you we found a unique sample at the crime scene. Great dane-sized scat containing bits of premium pet store kibble," Nick revealed.

"How premium?" Nick pressed.

"Sirloin, rice – nothing artificial," Nick responded.

"We need to find out what Dr Hillridge feeds her dog," Grissom proclaimed as they walked out into the hallway.

* * *

><p>"Just coming to see you," Warrick remarked as he caught up with the two of them, "You remember that ice we found at the crime scene?"<p>

"There's nothing in there," Grissom noted from the container Warrick was holding up.

"It didn't melt. It evaporated," Warrick told them.

"Dry ice," Nick realized, "Frozen CO2 sublimates into invisible gas. Not water."

"The jogger was missing some organs," Warrick reminded them.

"Surgical teams use dry ice to pack organs shipped for transplant," Grissom pointed out.

"It just so happens the dog's owner is a doctor," Warrick stated.

"Surgeon?" Nick guessed.

"Nutritionist," Grissom corrected, "But all medical residents have surgical rotations. Fellas, we have a doctor's appointment."

"Yeah," Warrick agreed.

* * *

><p>The boys indeed found themselves back at the residence of Susan Hillridge, searching every inch of the property so they could be sure they wouldn't miss anything important.<p>

Warrick was in the living room. He looked everywhere. Even behind the painting on the wall. The drawers of the table in the living room didn't hold much fruit either. Nevertheless, he continued looking. Even made a few more rounds. Just to make sure.

Nick was having more luck than Warrick in the department of finding evidence. He found scat. Dog scat, to be specific. He crouched down for a closer look and placed it in a container. Inwardly, he was hoping. Hoping that they can find evidence that would link the dog to the mystery murder of the jogger. And that evidence would be finding digested human tissue in the scat.

Grissom was in the kitchen with Susan who was putting items in her freezer. He intended to search the kitchen like Warrick was searching the living room and Nick in the backyard.

"Would you mind if I looked in your freezer?" Grissom asked.

"I have a patient coming in exactly 20 minutes. So if you want to rifle around until then, fine. But I will not leave my place of business," Susan answered firmly.

"No one's asking you to," Grissom retorted before looking into her freezer and noticed everything was in labelled plastic containers that were neatly stacked on the shelves, "You're very organized, Dr Hillridge. I imagine you're upset about your dog – having to put him down if it comes to that."

Susan saw the need to correct his thinking. So she turned away from the blender and told him, "I don't hold onto things. I accept the evolution of change. We live, we die, we replenish the earth."

"Man's best friend," Grissom pondered aloud, "But not yours, huh?"

"None of us gets out alive. I would think, in your job, you'd know that," Susan remarked as she approached Grissom with a beet in one hand and a large cutting knife with the blade pointing to the ceiling in the other, "But if we treat our bodies like a temple, we can cheat time. Your eyes…"

"What?" Grissom stuttered in a startled manner as he noticed the way Susan was staring at his eyes.

"The lower rims are pale. You're deficient in folic acid. You're not eating your beets. Two beets have 54% of the RDA," Susan pointed out as she walked back to the counter and expertly cut her beets on the cutting board before placing the chopped pieces in the blender.

"May I ask you what medical school you attended?" Grissom asked.

"Will that help with your investigation?" Susan wanted to know.

"I just thought. The way you handled that knife…," Grissom trailed off.

"Oh, the knife," Susan laughed as she shook her head, "No. I was in the CSI. Culinary Institute of America."

She turned her attention back to the blender as she activated the blades within. The ingredients were sliced and diced even more and they were blended together into one drink. Grissom watched in interest, finding everything fascinating for some reason. When she was finished, Susan grabbed a glass and filled it with the drink.

"Tell me, Mr Grissom. How does a man choose death as his profession?" Susan questioned.

"It chose me, actually," Grissom confessed sheepishly.

"Well, I guess one man's corpse is another man's candy," Susan remarked as she held out her protein shake towards him, "Care for a sip? It's full of folacin."

"No thanks," Grissom declined kindly as Warrick walked into the kitchen and Susan took a sip.

"Gris, can I show you something?" Warrick asked.

"Excuse me," Grissom said to Susan.

* * *

><p>Grissom had followed Warrick into the living room. He watched as Warrick gingerly carried over a long thin box. He showed Grissom the box and read the small plaque on the cover,<p>

"Surgery equipment. 'Emory Medical Supplies, Boston, Mass., 1875.'" He opened the box to show the surgery equipment inside, "Antiques."

"Boy, these are well maintained," Grissom observed.

"Exactly. What I find interesting is that she keeps them near the door. Not in the office. In case she needs to break out and go do some work," Warrick pointed out.

"Maybe she makes house calls," Grissom shrugged as the door opened after some light knocking and a man walked inside, "May we help you?"

"Yes. Dr Hillridge around? I'm here for a 4:00," Edwin confessed, causing Susan to walk out of her kitchen.

"Edwin. You look great today. How did the race go?" Susan asked.

"I finished in three hours and ten minutes," Edwin boasted proudly.

"You can do better," Susan said as they left the living room…but not before Susan shared one last glance with Grissom and Warrick.

"She gives me the willies," Warrick shuddered.

"We can't arrest her for that," Grissom sighed sadly.

"Yeah. Well, maybe we can link these to the crime. Her dog may have eaten that jogger. But he can't harvest the organs," Warrick pointed out.

* * *

><p>"No question about it. The cause of death is drowning," Doc Robbins said as he went over his autopsy findings with Catherine and Sara.<p>

"How tall was the victim?" Catherine asked.

"Three feet. Give or take an inch," Doc Robbins shrugged.

'The water was a foot and a half deep. She could've easily climbed out," Catherine pointed out, "Unless she was unconscious.

"Maybe she had a minor concussion or was stunned. That could explain why she couldn't get out," Sara shrugged.

"I checked. Believe me. She didn't. The only injury I could find on this little girl was a fractured forearm," Doc Robbins revealed.

"Spiral or straight?" Catherine wanted to know.

"X-rays just came back. Let's see," Doc Robbins said as they had a look at the x-rays, "Spiral. That's not from a fall."

"Somebody twisted that little girl's arm hard enough to break it," Catherine observed.

"Perimortem?" Sara asked.

"Swelling takes at least two to four minutes of active circulation. There's no swelling. So it had to happen moments before she died," Doc Robbins answered.

"So someone did yank her out of that car in the dark," Sara said before suddenly asking, "Wait. Pickens yanks her out just so he can drown her?"

"He's a sex offender. He was going to take her someplace," Catherine said.

"Not without someone seeing him," Sara retorted.

"You read the OSHA report. How many emergency doors were operational?" Catherine asked.

"None," Sara answered.

"He was trapped like a rat. He did the only thing he could – he hid the evidence," Catherine stated.

"Drowned the little girl," Sara nodded, "I'm going to call Brass."

"You're going to enter this as a homicide, right?" Catherine assumed after Sara left autopsy.

"Technically, it's somewhere between accidental and undetermined," Doc Robbins corrected.

"It's a homicide. I'm going to get your proof. So write down that accidental in pencil," Catherine advised before leaving…and running into Sandy's mother, Carla Dantini.

"Can you help me? I need to find out when my daughter's going to be released," Carla told her.

"I'm not a coroner. What's your daughter's name?" Catherine asked.

"Sandy Dantini," Carla answered.

Catherine inhaled before introducing herself, "Oh, Mrs Dantini. I'm Catherine Willows from the Crime Lab. You're spoken with my collegue, Sara Sidle. I'm so sorry."

"Um…did you find out what happened at the carnival to my baby?" Carla wanted to know.

"Actually, I'd like to ask you a few questions," Catherine said, "Is it possible that someone reached into your car and pulled out your daughter?"

"I…thought it was an accident. You read all the time about how dangerous amusement parks can be. You think it can never happen to you. You think you can protect your kids," Carla remarked.

"Well, when you were in the water to try to save Sandy, did you hear anything? Did you…sense that anyone was there…in the dark?" Catherine asked.

"I-I-I don't know," Carla stuttered, "I mean, well, you know, it all happened so fast. I was…focused on finding Sandy. Do you…do you think someone else was there?"

"I'm not ruling anything out," was all Catherine said.

* * *

><p>"Look. I didn't do anything wrong. I may have recycled a few caskets. But you're talking about a whole new different ball game," Randy Gesek (from the fourth episode of the series) said to Grissom as he visited him at the Desert Haven Mortuary.<p>

"Mr Gesek, I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm not even here officially. Think of yourself as a consultant to the Las Vegas Crime Lab," Grissom said.

"Do I get paid?" Randy immediately asked.

"What do you know about organ theft?" Grissom asked rather than answering his question.

"Oh, if I was in that business, I wouldn't worry about getting paid," Randy remarked, "You know, there are places overseas that'll pay 50 grand for one lung? 60 for a heart?"

"And you know this because…?" Grissom trailed off.

"Not firsthand. Not even secondhand. At the last funeral directors' convention. You'd be amazed what you hear. But, you know, it takes a lot to keep a business afloat," Randy pointed out.

"Tell me about the local market for organs," Grissom requested.

"Well, we're talking about life and death. It's probably pretty good," Randy shrugged.

"If someone was disembowelled and their liver taken, what would that go for?" Grissom asked.

"Menu, everything a la carte. Corneas - $5000. Kidney - $20000. Liver - $40000. Bowel - $30000. Pancreas - $18000," Randy answered.

"It's amazing what you can learn at a convention," Grissom remarked.

* * *

><p>"Warrick! I got a match!" Nick proclaimed as he wanted into the trace lab with Kady in his arms.<p>

"Yeah. You wanna hand me those filter papers right there?" Warrick asked, smiling as Kady handed them to him, "Thanks, Elmo."

"The scat I found at the crime scene and the scat from the doctor's house are the same. Except for one difference. The stuff from the backyard – full of human cellular tissue. Jogger DNA," Nick explained.

"So we got the right dog. Well, let's see if the owner cut the vic up," Warrick suggested as he held up the scalpel and added drops of reactive agents as he listed them, "Reactive agents. One part leuko-malachite. One part hydrogen peroxide – used by blondes everywhere."

"Hey! Abby was a blonde and she didn't use hydrogen peroxide! Neither does Catherine!" Nick protested.

_I walked right into that one._ Warrick thought to himself as the three of them watched the filter paper change colour, "Blue."

"Weird, isn't it?" Nick asked.

"What's that?" Warrick asked.

"To prove the presence of heme – the stuff that makes blood red," Nick stated.

"Turns the swab blue," Kady finished.

"Yeah," Nick nodded in agreement.

"That twin thing still freaks me out," Warrick muttered.

* * *

><p>"I own this attraction and it's going with me to the next town," Thomas proclaimed.<p>

"It's evidence. It's not going anywhere. Nothing is," Catherine retorted.

Thomas took a few threatening steps forward towards Catherine, "What? Says you two string beans?"

"It's going to take a lot more than vegetable insults to get us to move," Catherine scoffed.

"Lady, you don't know who you're messing with," Thomas smirked.

"Oh, I know exactly who you are, Mr Pickens. And if you so much as look at me in the wrong way, I will personally lock you in a cell with someone who's going to do the same thing to you that you've been doing to those little girls," Catherine threatened as Brass approached with two officers following him.

"Whoa, whoa. What? You start the party without me?" Brass asked with humour in his voice, "That could get dangerous. Thomas Pickens?"

"Yeah," Thomas responded.

"I got a court order. These rides stay in Vegas and you're coming with me," Brass declared.

"You pullin' my pud?" Thomas asked.

"You know, the thought never crossed my mind," Brass remarked as he and the officers left with Thomas, "Come on."

"What?" Catherine asked Sara as she noticed the brunette's facial expression.

"Nothing. This is fun," Sara confessed.

"As compared to what?" Catherine wanted to know.

"As compared to a more scientific approach," Sara answered, causing Catherine to smile.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry, guys. If she cut up that jogger, she didn't use that scalpel," Grissom proclaimed.<p>

"But we found evidence of blood on it!" Nick protested.

"I had Sanders run a degradation on that same sample. The blood is 50 to 200 years old – antique, like the scalpel – ruling out the possibility it was used in the murder of our jogger," Grissom explained before answering his ringing phone, "Yeah. I'll be right out. I have a visitor."

* * *

><p>Grissom walked into the hallway…only to be greeted by Dr Susan Hillridge herself. She was looking at the various items in the display case with very little interest. When she noticed Grissom walking past behind her, Susan turned to face him, tapped his shoulder to get his attention and held up a container of pills for him.<p>

"Hi. I have folic acid. I was worried about your eyes," Susan said as Grissom took the container, "I assume my surgical instruments came back clean or relatively clean."

"Are you here for a nutritional consultation or to eavesdrop on my investigation?" Grissom asked.

"Actually, my house felt a little crowded – all those men you sent," Susan corrected as she referred to the numerous officers walking into the lab carrying numerous paper bags filled with evidence.

"The, uh, police sent them," Grissom corrected.

"But you dictated the scope of the warrant," Susan retorted, "They're taking everything from my kitchen and office."

"You have three prior complaints in three separate states for owning vicious dogs," Grissom pointed out.

"And? What else do you know about me?" Susan asked.

"Each complaint is from a mountain state," Grissom stated.

"Is it a crime to like the mountains?" Susan questioned.

"No. Only if we find other joggers have turned up dead," Grissom answered before asking, "What's a liver go for these days?"

"What?" Susan asked in confusion.

"Terry Manning was missing several key organs – healthy organs," Grissom revealed.

"You disappoint me. I thought you were smarter than that. Coenzyme Q-10 could help with mental acuity," Susan advised before turning to leave…but stopping to recite a quote to him, "The last act is bloody, however fine the rest of the play."

"Pascal. Very impressive," Grissom complimented, "I prefer Buddha, though. 'Even death is not to be feared by those who lived wisely.'"

"One request. Ask them not to leave my house a mess. You know how I like order," Susan requested before leaving. This time…

Grissom let her go.

* * *

><p>"What? Are you guys working in bulk now?" Grissom asked as he walked into the layout room to find Nick, Kady and Warrick spraying luminol over items they collected from Susan's house.<p>

"Hey. You're the one who said that lady keeps ditching," Kady pointed out.

"If the jogger's blood is in any of this stuff, we need to find it now," Warrick proclaimed.

"This is only part of the kitchen – the rest is in those bags and boxes," Nick remarked as he took the luminol from Kady and gave her butterfly and Eskimo as thanks.

"I'm ready, Nick. You wanna hit the lights?" Warrick offered.

"Yeah," Nick nodded as he walked over and turned off the lights.

Immediately, they began looking for signs of blood. Nick, Warrick and Kady didn't see anything. Grissom, however, did. He held up the blender Susan had used the day before in front of him. The bottom of the blender and the sharp blades were glowing a bright fluorescent blue. Indicating that there was blood evidence.

"She made a protein shake in this yesterday right in front of me," Grissom recalled.

"Why would she do that?" Kady wanted to know.

"Get this to DNA. See if this is the jogger's blood," Grissom immediately instructed.

"I'd place a bet on it," Warrick remarked as he placed the blender in the package.

"Whoa, whoa. So she's not selling the organs on the black market. She's eating them?" Nick asked in surprise.

"Possibly drinking them," Grissom corrected, causing Nick and Kady to shudder and exclaim in disgust, "Seriously? The twin thing?"

To make Grissom even more annoyed with it, Nick and Kady shrugged at the same time. Wearing the same facial expressions and everything. Even Grissom had to admit.

It's adorable.

* * *

><p>"I want four techs in there," Catherine requested, "Let's try to pull the girl out from every conceivable angle."<p>

"You got it," the officer nodded as Sara snapped a photo of Catherine in the car.

"OK. Based on our theory, a loose seat belt enabled Pickens to yank the little girl out of her seat," Sara began.

"Mum was on the left. Where's my dummy?" Catherine asked before a lab tech handed her the dummy she wanted, "42 pounds?"

"Just like little Sandy," Sara said as the lab tech nodded.

"And just like…the loose seatbelt," Catherine added as she did up the seatbelt.

Sara pressed the button and the ride began. The car went into the tunnel. Inside, the lab techs tried yanking the dummy out of the car from every conceivable angle. But the dummy wouldn't budge. When this happened, Catherine realized that there was no way Pickens pulled Sandy out of the car. So…

Who was responsible?

* * *

><p>"The belt wasn't loose enough to yank the girl out. Forget Pickens," Catherine proclaimed after the ride ended.<p>

"The only person who could have done it then is the person that was in the car with her – her mother," Sara stated.

"Her eyes were pointing in the wrong direction," Catherine suddenly said.

"I'm sorry. What?" Sara stuttered.

"Carla Dantini was looking left when she told me about the accident," Catherine recalled, "When a person is remembering, they look right. And when they're creating, they look left."

"And by creating, you mean fabricating," Sara said as the realization began to dawn on her, "Neurolinguistics programming – human behavioural science."

"Call Brass and tell him to meet us at the mother's house," Catherine requested.

* * *

><p>"Mr Grissom. You're looking grim," Susan observed as she sat before Grissom and O'Riley in the interrogation room, "I'm afraid I don't have a supplement for that."<p>

"We found blood in your kitchen blender. The lab has matched it to the dead jogger," Grissom told her.

"It had to happen eventually," Susan sighed.

"Why?" Grissom asked.

"You're the scientist. I should have thought you'd figured that out," Susan scoffed.

"I haven't," Grissom confessed.

"Think of the bugs, Grissom. Cycle of life. Angels versus insects. When we die, the fable we tell ourselves is we go toward a white light and angels. But you and I both know the hard reality is that insects arrive immediately and begin turning us back to earth," Susan pointed out.

"Yes. But the insects haven't killed anyone," Grissom retorted.

"No. But they'd die if they didn't have bodies to feed off of. And so will I," Susan decreed before admitting the disease she has, "Porphyria."

Grissom's facial expression changed to one of realization and shock as it all fell into place, "The madness of King George."

"Or the Legend of the Vampire. Which makes it a real hard disease to have. But it's real for me," Susan said.

"It's genetic," Grissom stated.

"The only thing my father ever gave me. The first time it presented was after a minor sunburn. My lips receded – so did my gums. I increased my glucose intake and I was fine…for a while. I began a drug regimen but they only treated the symptoms. I had my spleen removed because it absorbed my blood. But nothing helped. Lesions started forming on my face," Susan explained how her disease came to be to the CSI and the detective, "That's when I bought my first dog. Bullets and poison leave residue in the blood. Dogs kill clean. Imagine what I'd look like by now without them."

Grissom could see it. He could see the face staring at him beginning to morph as if her disease was left untreated. Lesions began to form and her skin wrinkled. It was a horrible disease.

"You could've tried intravenous hematin," Grissom suggested.

"Human blood is the richest source of heme," Susan pointed out.

"And so you extracted the organs with the most blood – the liver, the spleen, the heart," Grissom said.

"If you lock me up, I'll go mad," Susan decreed.

"Unfortunately, a symptom of your condition," Grissom sighed, "But you've been killing people, doctor."

"I'll die in prison," Susan warned.

"Yes. But the people you'd be feeding off of will still be alive. Cycle of life," Grissom retorted, causing Susan to smile as he threw her own words back at her, "Sergeant."

O'Riley stood up and walked over to her, slapping the handcuffs on her wrists as he proclaimed, "You're under arrest for the murder of Terry Manning."

"You have one more question," Susan observed as she came to a stop before the entomologist, "How could I consume raw organs? Not morally – aesthetically. I dried them and ground them into powder."

"Protein powder," Grissom realized.

Susan leaned over the table so she could get close to Grissom. Tears were streaming down her face. She was done fighting. She had been caught for her crimes. She knew that she was going to die now and exactly how her death will come to be. Nothing mattered to her anymore. There was no point in fighting a battle she knew she was going to lose. Let alone a war.

"You want an empirical experience? There's a fresh shake in my fridge," Susan offered.

"Let's go officer," O'Riley said as he handed Susan to the waiting officer and turned to Grissom, "She is nuts, right?"

"She's a cold blooded killer," Grissom corrected.

* * *

><p>"You got the warrant, right?" Catherine asked Brass as he knocked on the front door of the Dantini residence.<p>

"Yeah. But it's limited in scope. The boyfriend's an attorney so we can't toss the place," Brass warned as the door opened.

"Mrs Dantini," Sara greeted.

"You have news about Sandy?" Carla asked hopefully.

"We may have a lead," Sara answered.

"We need to see the clothes that you wore the day your daughter died," Catherine requested.

"Why?" Carla demanded.

"It's OK, honey," Hugh murmured reassuringly before turning to Catherine, Sara and Brass, "I'm Hugh Young, Mrs Dantini's attorney. Carla's grieving. We both are. Can't this wait till after the funeral?"

"No. It can't," Catherine told them.

"Here's a warrant," Brass said as he handed them the warrant, "Where's your bedroom?"

* * *

><p>Before they knew it, they were inside the bedroom looking at the clothes Carla wore that day at the carnival spread out on the bed. Catherine and Sara examined for anything they could use against her.<p>

"So this is everything that you wore at the carnival last night?" Catherine asked.

"Yes," Carla nodded.

"Your watch is waterlogged," Catherine observed.

"Yes. I went into the water after my daughter," Carla said.

"So you jumped into the water," Sara surmised.

"Yes," Carla nodded.

"How come your shoes are dry?" Catherine demanded.

"Well…it was yesterday. Of course they're dry," Carla scoffed, growing even more nervous.

"The lining's blue. If they'd gotten wet, the indigo dye would have bled onto your white socks," Catherine retorted.

"You never went into the water," Sara proclaimed.

"If you didn't go into the water, how did your watch get wet?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Like I told her, reaching for my daughter," Carla answered.

"You reached for her alright," Catherine said, "To hold her under."

"And when she managed to grab onto you, you broke her arm," Sara went on.

"And you held her under while you sat in that car until you drowned her," Catherine finished.

"Carla, is any of this true?" High asked in shock.

"I want you to leave," Carla requested as she walked away.

But Catherine immediately followed her out into the hallway, freely lecturing her angrily.

"You took your daughter to the carnival ride 'cause kids get hurt there all the time. You thought the blame would leave town with the ride. Well, you should have planned better," Catherine growled, finally stopping Carla, "What did you actually think? That you and your boyfriend would run off like newlyweds? No kid? No cares?"

"I never thought anything like that," Hugh shook his head as he and Sara caught up to them.

"She did," Catherine said as she turned to Carla, "Didn't you?"

Carla didn't say anything. If she did, she said it with a cold voice, "I'm going to need a new lawyer."

Disgusted, Catherine headed out. But not before throwing instructions at Sara and Brass, "Bag the evidence. Arrest her, Jim."

* * *

><p>"Hey," Sara stopped Catherine in the living room, "You alright?"<p>

"Yeah," Catherine nodded.

"Since we skipped lunch, you want to get something to eat? Walk it off?" Sara offered.

"I gotta go home. Thanks. Rain check?" Catherine asked.

"Mm-hmm," Sara hummed as Catherine left.

* * *

><p>Catherine walked up to the front door and knocked on the door. The front door opened to reveal Paul Newsome.<p>

"You got my call," Paul said.

"It couldn't have come at a better time," Catherine sighed before they shared a kiss.

* * *

><p>Sara walked into the lab searching for someone. And that someone walked up to her and gave her the hug she desperately needed. And that someone…was Kady.<p>

"You alright?" Kady asked.

"Tough case, honey. I'm even better now that you're here," Sara smiled watery a they shared another hug.

Nick watched in the background with a smile on his face. Kady has formed a bond with everyone. Even Ecklie and they hardly saw eye-to-eye. He had heard about the case Catherine and Sara were working. So he understood why Sara needed Kady. Because all she needed…

Was a hug.

* * *

><p><strong>Now that was a nice way to end the chapter. Next chapter is Evaluation Day. Oh! About the upcoming story, anything you wanna be seen will be seen. So feel free to send in some requests and ideas. Oh! One thing that will stay the same is how they met: in an elevator.<strong>

**BYE!**


	23. Evaluation Day

**Evaluation Day: Grissom reaches the day he has to evaluate his team. However, the cases that are thrown at the Graveyard shift delay him from the evaluations. Along with Catherine, he deals with the discovery of a severed head in the trunk of a car while Sara and Nick investigate a headless body that appears to fell from the sky. Warrick is in charge of a murder in a juvenile detention centre where his young friend James is the only witness.**

**Next, Strip Strangler: A signature killer is torturing, raping and killing young women who are single parents to daughters under the age of five and brutally killing their daughters. Grissom and his team find catching the Strip Strangler to be a challenge as he possesses satisfactory knowledge of forensics to leave very little evidence behind. Much to Grissom's dismay, the Sheriff decides to involve Special Agent Culpepper from the FBI. Unfortunately, the anger that Nick and Grissom share only grows when he want to use Sara and Kady as bait.**

**Next chapter's the finale, guys! Who's excited? I own nothing aside from Kady. Of course…you already know that. Oh! Should I do an extra chapter where it's Kady's first day of school and virtually the entire lab goes with Nick to see her off?**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

><p>"Unit 584-Adam. Please be advised we're in pursuit of a BMW going southbound on Interstate 15 at a high rate of speed," Officer Metcalf reported into his radio to dispatch as he and numerous cars chased a speeding BMW down the road.<p>

"_Rodger, 158. You are cleared for manoeuvre._"

Pleased to know that he had been cleared to make necessary manoeuvres, Officer Metcalf swung his car out and swung it in hard enough to tap the rear bumper of the BMW. However, the vehicle didn't stop. He swung out and tapped the rear bumper again, a little harder this time. This manoeuvre succeeded in forcing the speeding vehicle off the road. When it slowed to a stop, Officer Metcalf stopped a safe distance behind it and stepped out with his gun drawn.

"Driver, roll down your window! Let me see your hands!" Officer Metcalf yelled as he slowly approached the car.

He reached out a hand to open the door. However, that action wasn't necessary. The door swung open. Officer Metcalf jumped back as two women named Anna Leah and Lori, who were dressed in nothing but their underwear, climbed out of the car with their hands raised.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" both girls were pleading him.

Officer Metcalf raised his hand to stop the approaching officers from coming closer to them. Immediately, he knew what was really going on.

"Dispatch, unit 584 is a code four. We got a couple of girls joyriding," Officer Metcalf proclaimed before turning to another officer, "Rookie, clear the vehicle!"

The two girls continued to stand there with their hands raised as the rookie checked the car. First, she checked the front seat and find nothing there. She closed the door and went to the back of the car. Nothing there either. However, it was when she reached the rear bumper that she found something interesting.

She found blood.

* * *

><p>"419?" Grissom guessed as he approached Brass and they made their way towards the car.<p>

"More like a four," Brass corrected.

At first, Grissom was looking at the car with a puzzled expression. However, his puzzled expression was replaced with one of surprise when Brass lifted to trunk hood and they saw the head severed at the neck in the trunk. This definitely was in the top ten of strange things that both men have seen in their lives.

"Ichabod was horror-struck on perceiving that he was headless," Grissom recited.

"…Sleepy Hollow," Brass guessed.

Grissom glanced at Brass for a moment, probably impressed that he actually knew the quote. Then he looked back at the severed head. He reached in and lifted the eyelid so he could examine the pupil and immediately noticed the creamy white coating over his eyes.

"Victreous humor is glazed over," Grissom observed.

"What does that mean?" Brass wanted to know.

"That means that six to eight hours ago, somebody lost their head. Then…somebody lost their head," Grissom answered.

Inset title credits here

"Sayonara," Catherine proclaimed as she dumped an envelope into the outgoing mail basket at reception and walked into the break room with Sara, Nick and Kady hot on her footsteps…only to find that Grissom was already there, "Well, well, what a switch. You actually beat us here."

"It's Evaluation Day," Grissom proclaimed, earning a hum from Catherine, "Where's Warrick?"

Sara turned to look around to notice that Warrick was, indeed, missing from the briefing. When she turned to Nick and Kady, who were closer to Warrick than she was, they just shrugged humming 'I don't know' with the same facial expression and everything. Sara rolled her eyes a little as the father/daughter duo had, yet, another twin moment they're so renowned for.

"He's working spillover. Personal thing. Kid he knows who's in trouble," Catherine answered.

"Oh, that's right. He told me. I forgot," Grissom shook his head as he finally remembered.

"Well, maybe we should be evaluating you," Catherine remarked.

"You're a riot, Alice," Grissom retorted sarcastically, "You and I are going to work the head case."

"Goody," Catherine said as she accepted the assignment slip Grissom was offering her.

"Nick, another homicide. 419, 40 miles outside of Baker," Grissom told him as he handed the sheet to Nick, who went to leave thinking he was finally getting his solo case since being promoted.

"OK. Good. I'm on it," Nick nodded.

"Sara, you go with him," Grissom added, causing Nick to slump in disappointment.

"Yes! Road trip!" Sara cheered, "I'm gonna go switch boots."

Sara grabbed Kady and settled the four-year-old onto her hip as she left the break room, the two of them talking excitedly about the Harry Potter series they had begun reading together. Grissom and Catherine noticed the disappointment in Nick's face and body posture. Immediately, Grissom knew that Nick wanted to talk to him about the recent case assignments. Alone.

"Cath, I'll catch up with you," Grissom promised, causing Catherine to nod and leave.

"I'll meet you at the autopsy!" Catherine called back before stopping to correct herself, "Head-topsy."

"Sit down," Grissom invited, causing Nick to sigh and sit.

"Look, Grissom. I know this is a bad time to bitch to the boss. But, uh, I've been a CSI Level 3 for nine months now. I was a CSI before Warrick. Warrick works solo. Why can't i?" Nick asked.

"Repeat after me," Grissom requested, "Silk, silk, silk."

"Silk, silk, silk?" Nick repeated in confusion.

"What do cows drink?" Grissom asked.

"Milk," Nick answered.

Grissom shook his head before correcting him, "Cows drink water. They give milk. A simple riddle. Common sense disguised in a puzzle of words. But an excellent barometer for evaluating someone's readiness."

"Look. I'm not one of your suspects you can trick, OK? If I'm not ready, be a man. Tell me I'm not ready," Nick pleaded, frustration evident in his voice.

"You're not ready," Grissom said what Nick needed to hear.

"You know why I took this job? Honestly? When I first started, when I first met Abby, I wanted to pack heat. Walk under the yellow tape. Be the man. When Abby died a few weeks after Kady was born, I continued to be a CSI so I can protect my daughter and be the hero she wants me to be. But mostly, it's because I want you to think I want you to think I'm a good CSI," Nick confessed. **(AN: About that comment, in the story I'm writing about their life together, I'm changing a lot from what I originally planned. And one of the facts I'm changing is when Abby died. Originally, I had it where Abby died due to car accident injuries a minute or two after Kady was born. Well…I'm having her die a few weeks later due to an illness that she didn't know she had.)**

"And that's the reason I have to hold you back," Grissom proclaimed, causing Nick to shake his head and look away, his frustration growing even more, "Anybody who's great at anything, Nick, does it for their own approval. Not someone else's. I know that if Abby was still alive, she'd say the same thing."

"Could you please not bring her into this?" Nick pleaded.

"It's been four years, Nick. That's another reason that I've been holding you back. Because you haven't fully moved on," Grissom admitted.

"Abby was my wife, Gris. She was my soul mate. She died weeks after we started our family from something we didn't even know she had. I've been a single father for my daughter's entire life. I almost quit my job here to raise her away from all of this. How would you feel if something like that happened to you?" Nick retorted.

Grissom went quiet. Not because he couldn't answer the question. He just refused to answer it. He couldn't admit the fact that if what happened four years ago to Nick happened to him, he'd be the same way.

Maybe worse.

* * *

><p>Doc Robbins was freely singing and dancing around autopsy using his crutch as a guitar. His back was towards the door. So he didn't see Grissom and Catherine walk in…well, until he turned around. As soon as he noticed them, he immediately reached across to the tape player and turned the volume down.<p>

"Uh, voice sound familiar?" Doc Robbins asked.

"Kinda sounds like the daytime coroner," Catherine remarked.

"Gary Telgenhoff?" Grissom repeated in disbelief.

"Yep," Doc Robbins nodded, "A songwriter in his off-time. What do you think?"

"It sucks," Catherine said after a moment of consideration, earning a hum from Doc Robbins, "Hey. I just failed for divorce. I'm feeling a little confident."

"I guess," Grissom shrugged to Catherine before turning to Doc Robbins and declaring, "I like it."

"So…where's the head?" Catherine wanted to know.

Doc Robbins immediately turned off his music and turned towards the head, explaining as he did so, "Well, police I.D'd him at the scene when they ran his plates compared the DMV headshot to the head. Grissom, Catherine, meet Victor Dasilva."

Doc Robbins pulled back the sheet to reveal the head from the trunk. Grissom walked around to the front of the head. Sighing as he glanced at the top of the head, he asked,

"What did this?"

"Hard to tell without making a mould," Doc Robbins answered.

"Fatal blow?" Grissom guessed.

"Looks like it," Doc Robbins agreed.

"Man. Look at the chopping wounds on the jawbone!" Catherine gasped as she noticed the marks on the jaw, "They almost look like practice swings."

"It could've been dark. Bad aim, maybe?" Grissom shrugged.

"Definitely a crime of passion," Catherine decreed.

"You think a female could do this?" Grissom asked.

"I could have," Catherine retorted.

"Scared of you," Grissom sing-songed.

"If you want to know what exact tools were used, we're going to need to boil his head," Doc Robbins declared, causing Grissom's interest to spark up greatly.

"Really? You want me to prepare it?" Grissom asked excitedly, causing Catherine to stiffen and listen to the conversation.

"Sure," Doc Robbins nodded, "What, uh, additive do you put in your boil?"

"Laundry detergent. Works great. It's like peeling off a rubber Halloween mask," Grissom answered.

"Excellent," Doc Robbins smiled.

"Well, I'm out of here. I'm going to be with Brass. See if I can get anything on those Victoria's Secret girls," Catherine decreed as she left.

"Where's your crock-pot, Doc?" Grissom demanded excitedly.

* * *

><p>"Mr Moore!" Warrick called, causing both men to approach the guard gate.<p>

"My grandson won't take my calls. He'll only talk to you," Mr Moore told him.

"I think James called me tonight because he thought I could help him," Warrick explained.

"That was a nice thing you did giving him your pager number when he went away. But he should be calling me. I'm his grandfather. I deserve to know what happened," Mr Moore pointed out.

Warrick knew that Mr Moore was right. James was his grandson. He's all he had left. Immediately, he knew that if this was Kady, Nick would want to know what happened. Instantly, he sighed and began explaining,

"James is alright. But, uh, there was a big brawl at the detention centre. James was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"What's my grandson looking at?" Mr Moore asked, immediately beginning to fear the worst.

"If he talks, he'll be dead inside a month. Now if he keeps quiet, the D.A will put the squeeze on him. He'll probably end up in the big house. You could lose your boy forever then," Warrick answered.

"Why didn't James call me? Tell me?" James pleaded.

"He probably knew what your advice would be. To do the honourable thing," Warrick guessed.

"There's no honour in jail," Mr Moore retorted.

"Not without a price. Look. A crime occurred. CSI's got full jurisdiction. I got myself assigned to the case. I'll see if I can take James out of the middle," Warrick promised.

* * *

><p>"Can we offer you girls something to drink?" Brass asked Lori and Anna Leah.<p>

"Please don't say that word," Lori pleaded him as she wrapped the blanket tighter around her.

"You want to tell us why two college freshmen were driving a stolen BMW with a head in the trunk?" Brass suggested.

"We already told you. We had no idea that was in the trunk," Anna Leah repeated her earlier statement.

Lori, on the other hand, muttered, "Gross."

"Now there's a start – gross," Catherine remarked, "Gross negligence – flying down I-15 in a stolen car. Gross anatomy – a human bowling ball in the trunk. Gross details – let's hear it."

"We lost our friends at Bar 911. We had no ride home. We were bored. So we started shots of tequila with some guy who looked like…like Cat Stevens. Next thing we know, we're in his van playing strip poker. IT was a blast at first. Then, um…," Anna Leah seemed to instantly sober up when she recalled what he said, "Then he said the creepiest thing.:

_Begin flashback_

"_So, I met this girl on the internet who offered me a round-trip ticket to fly out and help her end her life. She wanted me to shove a tennis ball down her throat," he confessed._

_Anna Leah and Lori couldn't get out of the van fast enough. Frantically, they began searching for a car – a cab – any mode of transport that could help them escape. That was when Anna Leah noticed the car that got them in trouble to start with._

"_Lori! Lori, over here! Lori!" Anna Leah cried as they climbed into the car and sped of._

_End flashback_

"Let me guess. You left your clothes in the van," Catherine surmised.

"We were so out of there," Lori said.

"This guy was weird. Like, way weird. I was thinking that he was going to pull a Silence of the Lambs on me and tell me to 'put lotion in the basket,'" Anna Leah added.

Randomly, they couldn't' help but chuckle at the memory. They had to admit. When they looked back on it, it was pretty funny. Brass and Catherine slowly glanced at each other. How can two girls be so stupid? Immediately, they began hoping that when Lindsey and Kady were older, they wouldn't end up like them.

"You know what I think? I don't think you two are murders. I think you're just felony stupid. But, for now, you're being booked on evading arrest, grand theft auto, DWI. You go with this officer here," Brass decreed.

* * *

><p>"<em>Lockdown is in effect. All guards remain at your posts.<em>"

"I love my grandpa. Don't get me wrong. But he's got no idea how it works in here. I'm not sure you do, either," James remarked as he and Warrick walked around the detention centre talking.

"Why don't you tell me?" Warrick suggested.

"First off, this place only see two colours: black and white. You stay with your own. Despite what those chucks think upstairs, this entire place is infiltrated with rolling 60s. Overflow from L.A," James explained.

"That's a lot of education in a short time, huh?" Warrick remarked.

"Yeah," James nodded, "I mean, I'm just trying to survive, man. I'm 60 days and a wake-up unless I get got."

"James, why don't you take a deep breath and tell me what happened here?" Warrick offered.

"First, you got to tell me something. You got to tell me whose side you're on," James declared.

"Whose side I'm on?" Warrick repeated in disbelief, "Who reached out to you, man?"

"Who put me in here?" James retorted.

"James, I'm trying to help you here," Warrick sighed.

James immediately made a decision here. He decided to tell Warrick how it all went down. When he went away, Warrick gave him his pager number and told him to call at any time. When this went down, Warrick didn't have to get himself assigned to the case. But he did. James owed him the truth.

"Alright. It breaks down like this. Kingpin from Gerson Park and Kingpin from L.A County/Slauson both under one roof. It was time for one of them to stake their claim. Vegas fool got shanked. I was sitting right there. I had two things going against me: I'm the newest face and the only witness," James explained.

"So it's your life versus time," Warrick clarified.

"Basically, yeah and everyone knows about it. They're just waiting to see what I'm going to do. I sing…they send me a song back. I shut up…that goddaughter of yours is gonna be in college when I get out," James told him.

* * *

><p>"Who found the body?" Sara asked Sergeant O'Riley as she and Nick approached the crime scene, Sara carrying both kits and Nick piggy-backing his four-year-old daughter.<p>

"Department of Agriculture. They were searching for wild horses in their chopper when they found it. None of the boys would even go near it. I had to tape the perimeter myself," O'Riley answered.

"Where is it?" Sara wanted to know.

"Just follow my prints," was all O'Riley said as he shone his flashlight across the ground.

"Hey, butterfly. I want you to stay with O'Riley, OK?" Nick said as O'Riley took Kady off his back.

"OK, daddy," Kady nodded as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

Nick and Sara followed the footprints O'Riley had left for them when he scouted the area. Nick had a hard time removing the goofy smile from his face from the kiss Kady had given him. There was no denying. Kady was the best thing to happen to him. He wouldn't trade her for anything.

Even how she arrived.

"Oh man," Nick moaned as they reached the body.

Actually, it wasn't really a body at all. It was just a clump of flesh and bones. There was no head. No hands or feet. The poor guy was skinned. How were they going to ID him?

"There's no head. Think it's DaSilva?" Sara asked as Nick covered his nose with his hand.

"If it's the rest of him, he's been skinned," Nick pointed out.

"Uh…hands and feet have been amputated," Sara observed.

"Yeah. Most likely to avoid I.D," Nick shrugged as he shone his light on the ground surrounding the corpse…and noticing something odd about the whole scene, "Hey, Sara."

"Yeah?" Sara responded.

"No approaching surface prints. No tire tracks. Only O'Riley's boot prints. These are ours. Look at the area around the corpse. Look at the big dent in the ground. Like a meteor hit," Nick stated.

Nick and Sara glanced at each other and up at the sky. They couldn't help but wonder…

Did the body fall from the sky?

* * *

><p>Warrick walked through the courtyard to approach the dorm where the crime took place. Numerous detainees were milling outside, obviously not allowed in the dorm to cover up the crime. They were all screaming at him.<p>

"That guy's from the Crime Lab! You gonna spray some chemical stuff over the dorm, man?"

"Hey! What you got in the tackle box, babe? You going fishing?"

"Hey, brother! What's up? Let me talk to you real quick!"

"Welcome to juvie," the deputy remarked as they met up, "It's all yours."

Warrick opened the door and walked into the dormitories past the deputy. Placing his kit on the ground, he began to search the room for any evidence he could use against the killer that would hold up in court without James' testimony. Because like James said, he sings the song, they sing one back. He remains silent, he's off to a different school of rock.

Warrick found himself standing in front of bed 52, which was near the blood pool and a rag that was used to soak it up, trying to hide what had happened. Bed 52 belonged to James, who had a front-row seat to what happened. Warrick noticed the three items that were on the wall near the bed.

A photo of James with his grandfather; his only family.

A card with a quote written on it, "_A man's pride will bring him low; but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit_" (Proverbs 29:23)

Warrick's name and his number: 555-0127.

After checking every single bunk and not finding much, Warrick took his kit with him to check out the bathroom and checked every single stall. In the fourth stall, he found something that would lead him to more evidence. The toilet was backed up. The seat was dirty. And the water was a murky brown. He rolled up his sleeve and reached down into the toilet, pulling out the clog.

It was a white shirt.

Stained in blood.

* * *

><p>"I'm not sure you should be doing this," Sara said as she, Nick and Kady entered the CSI Garage.<p>

"What are we doing? Walking through the garage," Nick pointed out as he headed towards the car that contained the head Grissom and Catherine were currently investigating.

"Snooping for trance on Grissom and Catherine's stolen BMW?" Sara continued to protest.

"Alright. It's simple. We got the body. They got the head. The BMW's fair game. Come on, Sara. Where's your 'Noriega?'" Nick asked.

"What's Noriega?" Kady asked as Sara bounced her on her hip a little bit.

"You'll find out when you're older," Nick immediately answered, noticing that Sara was opening her mouth to tell her.

"What has gotten into you?" Sara demanded, wanting to know why Nick was acting this way.

"Grissom," was all Nick said.

Sara didn't need to hear anymore. Grissom had said something to Nick before they met up. With the evaluations coming up, she just assumed that he was just trying to score extra points. But Nick didn't seem to be the 'kiss-ass' type. She couldn't help but wonder the real reason. That maybe, there was something deeper.

Maybe a desire to prove himself.

Sara just shrugged and placed Kady on the ground, telling her to stay nearby before going off to help Nick process the car. She swabbed the rear fender where the head was hidden in the boot. She tested the swab and it turned blue, telling her all she needed to know.

Nick was checking the floor of the front seat after checking the actual seats and the doors. So far, nothing was catching his attention. Well…that was before he checked the pedals. He noticed something stuck in the grooves.

Something that could break the case.

"Uh…Sara…wanna take a look at this?" Nick offered.

* * *

><p>"It's like nothing I've seen before – honestly, Gil – in all my years," Doc Robbins confessed to Grissom in the autopsy of the body Nick and Sara found.<p>

"The head or the torso?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Torso. Look at the width of the ribcage – it's enormous – and the shoulders are significantly larger in proportion and size compared to the average endormorph," Doc Robbins pointed out.

"The bone structure is disproportionate," Grissom surmised.

"Correct. I measured the tibia and fibula around the ankle area then the radius and the ulna at the wrists – the bones are 10-15% larger than the standard homo sapiens. Left fracture of the ischial prominence of the pelvis. Fracture of the pubis synphisus. Fracture of the lumbar spine vertebrae," Doc Robbins began listing the injuries he found on the body.

"Anything not broken?" Grissom asked.

"No. The trauma's similar to some of the leapers I get in here: out of state, out of cash and out the window," Doc Robbins remarked.

"Suicide by hotel," Grissom said.

"This was not a hotel. What you see here is the flattening and expansion of the body that could only be caused by the impact of a very steep fall. If I know everything, I know two unequivocal truths: Dasilva's head does not belong to this body. And the reason I know that is because the torso's not human," Doc Robbins decreed.

"What is it?" Grissom demanded.

"I don't know," Doc Robbins admitted, "You're going to need an anthropologist."

Grissom didn't need to ponder this. He knew that they would need an anthropologist. In fact…

He knew the right person to ask.

* * *

><p>Greg hummed as he checked each scope that contained the mysterious substance from the car. He went through various books trying to identify the kind of nut he was looking for. Nick and Sara sat there bored out of their minds…until Greg finally looked at them.<p>

"Squirrels love 'em. They get tossed at Dodger Stadium and they make a hell of a butter," Greg smirked at them.

"You're nuts. You know that," Sara said.

"Exactamundo," Greg cheered before turning to his four-year-old goddaughter sitting in his lap, "Do you know?"

"Peanuts!" Kady nodded.

"Sweet little Kadelin's got it right. Right scope's the shell. Left scope's the skin of the nut. Think "peanuts Española"," Greg explained.

"Peanuts on the gas pedal," Nick repeated, "You're kidding?"

"Uh-uh," Greg and Kady chorused as they shook their heads.

"That's one of those funny clues. Could mean nothing or could mean anything," Sara remarked, earning a hum in agreement from Nick.

* * *

><p>Grissom and Brass were heading to the residence of Victor Dasilva. Since he was murdered, they needed to check out his house so they could find something that would lead him to his killer. They moved aside the plastic, expecting to walk inside with ease. However, they found something they didn't expect.<p>

A stranger. In the house.

"Whoa. Who are you, pal?" Brass asked.

"I'm Trent Calloway. Who are you?" Trent retorted.

"I'm Jim Brass, Homicide. This is Gil Grissom. Crime Lab. Does a Victor Dasilva live here?" Brass questioned.

"Yeah. But he's out," Trent nodded.

"And you're in," Grissom piped in.

"Yeah. I'm painting the house," Trent explained.

"In the middle of the night? Back up, Slick. We got some bad news," Brass warned as he and Grissom walked into the house, "So when was the last time you saw Victor Dasilva with his head attached?"

"A day or two ago," Trent answered as he wiped his hands with a rag, "This whole painting thing had him stressed out."

"Picking up airheads just got easier," Grissom read from a painting covered in plastic.

"Yeah. He worked freelance mostly. He won a 'bandy' award for that one," Trent told him.

"So he worked for an ad agency. What else did he do for a living?" Brass wanted to know.

"That is as far as I know," Trent shrugged.

"What about you? I mean, besides painting walls," Brass said.

"I'm a bouncer at the French Palace. I throw guys like you out," Trent remarked, causing Brass to chuckle.

"Yeah. You know, you don't seem too shook up about Dasilva's death," Brass stated.

"We weren't that close. We had some mutual friends, he needed someone to help him with this place and, uh, I never turn down a job," Trent explained.

"Well, I hope you got paid in advance," Brass smirked.

* * *

><p>Grissom pushed the plastic sheets aside and walked into the bedroom. He looked around and noticed the open closet. And as the saying goes: curiosity killed the cat. He walked into the closet and turned the light on. He began checking all the shoes, looking for the peanuts. That was when Brass walked in, holding a torn-up photo.<p>

"Found a picture of Victor Dasilva and, uh…somebody," Brass announced.

"What does that mean?" Grissom asked.

"Cut out," Brass said as he showed Grissom the photo.

"So bizarre, human behaviour. What you can't cut out of your mind, you can always cut out of your photo album," Grissom remarked.

"Why are we in the closet?" Brass wanted to know.

"I got a call from Greg Sanders at our lab. He found peanut shells on the foot pedals of Victor Dasilva's car," Grissom answered, earning a hum from Brass as he finally found the peanuts in the shoes, "And voila."

"Mr Calloway, would you mind coming in here please?" Brass yelled out, causing him to come in as Grissom stood up.

"Mr Calloway, is there a remote possibility that Victor Dasilva ever worked at a concession stand of some sort like at a ballpark or…the secret garden of Siegfried and Roy in the elephants' habitat?" Grissom asked.

"I don't think it's Victor's style. This is ridiculous," Trent scoffed.

"Well, not according to his size 11s," Grissom retorted, causing Trent to go quiet.

* * *

><p>"I'm telling you. The kids in here got nothing but time. You'd be surprised what they can come up with," the maintenance engineer remarked to Warrick as he led him towards the backroom where the pipes are.<p>

"Nothing surprises me anymore," Warrick mumbled as he recalled some of the surprises he has experienced in the job – before AND after Kadelin was born.

"Yeah? Wait awhile. This is the main thoroughfare for all the toilets. All the goods come through here,' he retorted as he opened his kit and took out a huge wrench, "You know, it's funny. I wanted to be a surgeon. Stand back for Molly."

The maintenance engineer used the wrench to unscrew the pipe open. AS soon as it was open, Warrick stepped forward.

"Step back for Warrick," Warrick smirked as he pushed his sleeves and leaned in closer, "Whew!"

He let out another exclamation of disgust as he reached in and pulled out the clog. The clog was an underwear bundle hiding something. And that something…was the murder weapon. A sharpened toothbrush with a razor hidden in the handle. A homemade shank using what was available in juvie.

"Impressive," Warrick sighed.

* * *

><p>Grissom, Sara, Nick and Doc Robbins removed the sheet to reveal the skinned body. Having been unable to determine what the body actually is, they decided to call in an expert. And the expert…<p>

Is Teri Miller.

"Dr Miller, this is outside my purview as a coroner," Doc Robbins stated.

Teri stepped forward to examine the body. In her hand was an activated tape recorder.

"The specimen's pelvic girdle and spine…are curved and upright, suggesting the species may be quadrupedal. The left and right femur and humorous are derivative of the tarsias," Teri observed before stepping back, turning off the recorder and sighing, "I think I know what this is. Your preliminary evaluation is correct, Dr Robbins. It's not human. It's a primate. More specifically, a gorilla."

Sara made no effort to hide the surprise she felt when Teri made that announcement. A gorilla? In Nevada? What was it doing here?

* * *

><p>"<em>Bush meat hunters thrive on the murdering of gorillas for profit. In the United States, their meat is considered a delicacy. It is said if the animal is ingested, its great powers will be passed on to the consumer.<em>"

Grissom began to feel a bit of déjà vu as he stood in the doorway of the computer room. Sara had, once again, planted herself in front of the computer watching a documentary about gorillas. Grissom remembered the last time they were in a position like this. Sara had been obsessed about identifying their Jane Doe in the hospital and was willing to stop at nothing to catch her attacker and Grissom warned her that if she kept on going like this, she would burn out like she almost did when they finally caught the killer and the system virtually rewarded him for choosing a victim that was too tough to die. He didn't want to relive that again. Because he was afraid of what would happen this time.

"What are you doing?" Grissom asked as he walked into the room and switched on the lights.

"Working the case," Sara answered casually as she turned to look at him.

"What case?" Grissom asked.

"The skinned gorilla torso forty miles outside of Baker. Remember?" Sara reminded him.

"I don't think that is a case," Grissom confessed.

"Well, it was at the start of shift. A crime has been committed," Sara retorted.

That was when Grissom took in the items Sara had on the table next to her. A CD ROM disc about the animal on their slab and the companion magazine, _GORILLA: In Its Natural Environment_.

"I hate to be the one to state the obvious. But, uh…this isn't a human being we're dealing with. It's an animal," Grissom stated.

"And…," Sara pressed, knowing that he had more to say.

"And every time a dog gets run over, you can't go to the vet to examine it," Grissom pointed out.

Sara snorted and went on to accuse Grissom of having lack of sympathy, "I can't believe you. You, with your pet tarantula, your maggot farms, that komodo dragon on back order; you should be more sympathetic to the senseless murder of an innocent gorilla!"

Grissom couldn't help but be amused as he rectified his actions, "You're right. I apologize. I was just checking to see where your head was at. For now, you're working alone. Catherine needs Nick."

"Do I get Kadelin?" Sara asked hopefully.

"I already asked. Nick doesn't want her exposed to animal cruelty at the age of four," Grissom answered.

"Bummer," Sara pouted.

Grissom couldn't help but be amused. Ever since Kady was born and Nick made the decision to raise her and balance his career as a CSI after Abby's death, they would always fight over who would be able to have Kadelin for a case. However, that didn't start until she was two months old and they were adapted to her naptimes and feeding times and when she would be able to have play times. However, they also decided that when Kady is older, she would choose who she would go with.

Before he left however, he told Sara, "We got another dead body call."

"Wait. Is he missing a head?" Sara asked.

"Maybe. Meanwhile, you're on standby in case Nick needs backup," Grissom decreed, causing Sara to nod as he showed her something on his clipboard, "Your evaluation form. Overall performance: outstanding. Ability to prioritize: improvement needed."

* * *

><p>"Are two of my favourite ladies up for a riddle?" Nick asked cheekily as he, Catherine and Kady walked through the hallway.<p>

"I'm up for it. What do you think, sunshine?" Catherine asked as she bounced her goddaughter on her hip.

"Sure, rainbow," Kady nodded eagerly. **(AN: Guess who's lollipop?)**

"OK. Repeat after me," Nick requested, "Silk, silk, silk."

"Silk, silk, silk," Catherine and Kady recited.

"What do cows drink?" Nick asked with a smile on his face.

"Water," Catherine and Kady chorused, causing Nick's smile to fade, "Why?"

"Never mind," Nick grumbled.

* * *

><p>"Who thought that a toothbrush could take a kid's life?" Greg remarked.<p>

"Yeah. Son of a bitch was crafty. I'll give him that. Melted the end of the toothbrush to insert the razor blade," Warrick said.

"Then why the rubber band?" Greg asked.

Warrick took the toothbrush from Greg and pushed the rubber band over the razor to prove his point.

"Concealment," Warrick answered.

"Oh, that's deep," Greg said.

"Yeah. Now all I got to do is put this shank in someone's hand," Warrick pointed out.

* * *

><p>"Hey. Here's something new," Catherine observed as she and Nick followed the officers lighting the way towards the body, "The cousin of footprints. Sock prints. Look. That's not from a shoe. Look at the fabric impressions. The guy ran out of here in his socks."<p>

Nick hummed and nodded as he boosted Kady higher on his back, "Perp thought he could cover his tracks by taking off his shoes."

"He thought wrong," Kady said.

Nick couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head while thinking, "_That's my girl._" He seriously loved having her with him whenever he went out to a crime scene. It reminded him of why he was doing this. A lot of people told him that having Kady on cases with him did the same. Immediately, he knew that when Kady starts school, it's gonna be hard.

"Manager spotted the blood during a night sweep," Brass told them as they stepped under the tape, "Wanna know who the shed's registered to? Victor Dasilva."

"Our head," Catherine clarified as Nick and Kady looked at the body in the trunk.

"Oh. So this is the rest of the body?" Nick guessed.

"It ain't gorilla," Brass remarked before leaving.

"Well, this amount of blood suggests that the victim was killed here. Why don't I do the one-to-ones and you and Kady start looking for the weapon?" Catherine suggested.

"Yeah. Whatever punctures. Whatever chops," Nick nodded as he swung Kady around onto his hip, "Ready, butterfly?"

"Ready, Pancho," Kady nodded eagerly.

That was when they began working. Catherine began snapping photos of the body, the blood pool and the sock prints in blood. Nick and Kady began searching for weapons. Whatever chops. Whatever punctures. When she was done taking photos and collecting evidence, she joined the father/daughter duo in their search. They all found something. Catherine found a hatchet while Kady and Nick found a hammer. Both were stained with blood.

"Bob Villa," Nick remarked.

"Paul Bunyan," Catherine added.

"Who?" Kady asked.

* * *

><p>"By the way, what about my evaluation?" Catherine asked as she and Grissom worked in the lab.<p>

Grissom directed his glance from the bloodied hammer to Catherine and said, "Keep up the good work, Catherine. Are those moulds dry yet?"

"They're tacky," Catherine warned as she removed the moulds from the jaw of the skull and compared them to the mould she had taken of the edge of the axe, "Hmm, positive for positive."

"That'll never hold up in court, though. We're gonna need to make negative moulds," Grissom stated.

Catherine immediately put the axe aside and held her hand out for the hammer, "Tabling the axe. Hammer time."

Catherine compared the head of the hammer to the mould of the wounds on the top if the skull. She glanced at the results before looking at Grissom and said,

"Um…pretty close."

"Alright. I fed the measurements from the claw end of the hammer," Grissom began as he compared the two and got a match…however, it still left him unsatisfied with the evidence, "Something doesn't seem right about this. Why would you use the claw end of the hammer to kill him and not the hammer end?"

"Wait a minute," Catherine said as she thought about it, "Maybe it wasn't about hitting him in the head. Maybe it was about fitting him in the locker."

"So the footlocker had no headroom," Grissom realized.

"Exactly," Catherine smirked.

* * *

><p>"So, uh, Tricky Nick. What did you get on your evaluation?" Sara asked as she and Nick returned to the Dasilva residence.<p>

"It's private," Nick answered.

"Yeah. But how many outstandings did Grissom give you?" Sara pressed, desperately wanting to know how well Nick did to possibly rub it in his face.

"Enough!" Nick snapped as they walked into the bedroom.

"What did he tell you to look for?" Sara wanted to know.

"Grissom didn't tell me anything," Nick said as he set his kit down and opened the closet doors, "I put this together myself. Give me some light, will you?"

"Yeah," Sara nodded as she shone her light at the shoes.

Nick started checking all the shoes in the closet, explaining his reasons to Sara,

"Alright. It's like this. Sock prints were found at the crime scene: size 11. Shoes Grissom took from the closet here: size 11. Dasilva's shoe size: ten. So whose size 11's were they? Grissom missed something."

However, Nick realized that he would pretty soon have to eat his words. He found nothing. Frustration filled him as he hung his head and sighed heavily. It was as if he was trying to encourage Kady to take her first steps all over again. He then decided that if he didn't give up on having Kady take her first steps, he wasn't gonna give up on catching a murderer. He checked the shoes again…and noticed something caught in the cuff of the pants hanging above the shoes.

A peanut.

Going further, Nick and Sara stood up and looked at the clothes the pants belonged to. A work uniform that consisted of the pants and a yellow shirt with a patch over the left breast that read, "Spur's Corral."

"Spur's Corral. I know that place. They give you peanuts for starters instead of bread or chips and salsa," Sara stated.

"I'm calling Grissom," Nick proclaimed as he reached for his phone.

"Look. You obviously don't need my help. I-I gotta go put something to rest. See you later?" Sara said as she went to leave.

"Alright. Thanks," Nick nodded as he used his teeth to pull out the antennae of his phone and he began dialling.

* * *

><p>"The body from the storage shed. It's Victor Dasilva, alright. We ran his prints," Doc Robbins said.<p>

"It's nice that he still had his hands," Grissom remarked.

"I was wrong about the cause of death," Doc Robbins confessed.

"The hammer didn't do it?" Grissom asked in surprise.

"No. He was shot point-blank in the heart. .380. Imagine the human heart as an apple. Instant liquefaction," Doc Robbins explained.

"We found everything else in that shed," Catherine recalled, "I don't know why we didn't find a gun."

"Well, maybe he was shot somewhere else," Grissom suggested.

"That would explain the plastic," Catherine shrugged, causing Grissom to stand before Catherine in confusion.

"What plastic?" Grissom demanded, "You never told me about any plastic."

"I didn't? Oh," Catherine said as she walked away with Grissom following her, "The victim was wrapped in a plastic sheet."

"Victor Dasilva's entire house was covered in plastic. He was having it painted," Grissom stated.

"Really? Who's the painter?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Nobody famous," Grissom answered as he opened the door.

"Yet," Catherine smirked as they walked away.

* * *

><p>"You had access to Victor Dasilva's house?" Brass asked Trent in the interrogation room.<p>

"Yeah. I was painting it," Trent answered.

"You own a gun? I don't mean a paint gun," Brass said.

"No," Trent shook his head.

"OK. Let's get right to it. What's your shoe size?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Why?" Trent wanted to know.

"I have a shoe fetish. I love feet," Grissom smirked.

"It's 13," Trent finally answered.

"Take off your shoes and socks," Brass requested, "We need to verify."

Catherine placed a sheet of paper on the ground while Trent removed his shoes and socks. Trent held his foot up to Catherine and she rolled the ink over his foot and put it down.

"OK. Step on the paper," Catherine instructed, causing Trent to stand up. Catherine compared the sock print to the footprint and found, "Two sizes too big. You can go."

* * *

><p>"I'd tell you not to step on the evidence. But, uh…," Grissom trailed off as he and Brass walked into Spur's Corral and they noticed the peanuts on the floor.<p>

"Yeah. But what's the point? Pretty good gimmick they got here though. You eat peanuts, toss the shells on the floor – nobody gives a rat's ass," Brass remarked.

"You sure you can't help me out?" they heard Nick ask the restaurant manager.

"No. Victor Dasilva never worked here," the restaurant manager shook his head.

"We found one of your uniforms in his closet. Any idea how it got there?" Nick questioned.

"No," he said.

Nick sighed and approached Grissom and Brass, "Guys…look, boss. I'm sorry. I thought I was onto something here. I had a conflict in shoe sizes so I thought I'd play a hunch. Sara was right there. We were checking out the shoes and we found some peanuts in the cuff links and go up and Spurs Corral."

As Nick spoke, his voice suddenly became echo-y as Grissom was distracted by something. The large decorated sombrero hanging on the wall behind him. Suddenly, he remembered something.

"Incidental," Brass said.

"I don't think so," Nick protested, "So that's why I buzzed you guys down. You got to follow your hunches, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Grissom nodded, "Jim? You still got that picture that you took from Dasilva's house?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Here it is," Brass said as he took out the photo.

"What? You're looking at the sombrero?" Nick asked.

"The earrings. Victor Dasilva was here with someone he cut out of his life," Grissom decreed.

"Probably his girlfriend," Brass shrugged as Grissom chased down the restaurant manager.

"Excuse me. You recognize this ear?" Grissom asked.

"You gotta be kidding me," the restaurant manager sighed as he looked…and surprised himself, "Wait a minute. Yeah. I do. I do recognize those earrings."

"Fred Applewhite?" Brass asked as they chased him down moments later.

"Y'all here for lunch?" Fred asked.

"No. Takeout," Grissom corrected.

* * *

><p>"I heard you were disassembling the gorilla," Sara said as she walked in on Teri working on the body.<p>

"For purposes of disease control. Per the CDC, I have to take samples and dispose of this animal immediately," Teri pointed out.

"Well, I've been trying to find out who did this to her and, um, I have some questions," Sara confessed.

"You ask, I'll answer," Teri nodded.

"Why did they amputate the gorilla's head?" Sara asked.

"It's a trophy. American fetishists would pay up to $10000 for the head of a lowland gorilla," Teri answered.

"The hands and feet?" Sara wanted to know.

"Novelty items. Sold as ashtrays," Teri responded.

"Here Nick and I were thinking it was to avoid I.D," Sara remarked, "Why skin it?"

"Purses, shoes, boots…it's sad. Genetically, we're 92.7% identical with gorillas," Teri stated.

"It's hard to tell where the human ends and the animal begins," Sara sighed.

"Well said," Teri complimented.

'I checked out a couple of websites… , . I think she was killed probably in Cameroon or Congo, transported to the Port of Los Angeles, dismembered, packed, loaded onto a small plane…where they dumped what they couldn't sell. But, uh, I just have to find the plane," Sara explained.

"Needle in a haystack. Chances are whoever did this are halfway around the world by now," Teri remarked.

"There has to be something I can do," Sara protested.

"Actually, there is," Teri said.

* * *

><p>Sara sat in the desert cross-legged with a small shovel in her grip digging a hole in front of her. When she managed to dig a deep-enough hole, she grabbed a gold container and opened it. Inside it was the ashes of the gorilla. She poured the ashes into the hole and used her bare hands to fill the hole again.<p>

"For every one that parts, one stands above ground," Sara recited.

* * *

><p>"OK, Mr Applewhite…take a walk," Nick instructed after rolling ink onto Fred's feet.<p>

Fred obeyed. He stood up and walked along the stretch of paper laid on the floor of the garage. The ink on his feet left his footprint on the paper. As he walked, Catherine and Nick looked at the sock print photos from the crime scene. When he reached the end, he walked back to the stool.

"OK. Great. Now, Mr Applewhite…this time, I want you to do something different," Catherine decreed as she placed fresh paper on the floor and guided Fred towards it, "This time…run."

Fred obeyed. And it would potentially lead to his arrest.

* * *

><p>"Footprints are almost as reliable as fingerprints and every step tells a story. The first few steps, you were walking. See the complete heel, arch and five little piggies? The next few steps, however, the heel disappears. All of the pressure is put on the ball of the foot and toes. Why? Because you were running. And my guess is that, on the day, you had a head in your hand," Grissom said.<p>

"You see, everyone's foot makes a unique, well, impression. Check it out," Nick explained as he showed Fred various photos, "The, uh, width…ball of the foot…instep…arch…and, uh…size 11 for dessert."

"Mr Applewhite, your footprints place you at the crime scene," Grissom decreed.

"Victor and I were partners. We shared everything. Including our house and the storage shed," Fred said.

"We know that. When did you move out?" Brass asked.

"Three months ago. He found somebody else. Kicked me out," Fred answered.

"And you took all your possessions with you?" Brass assumed.

"Not everything," Fred shook his head.

"So you were hoping for a reconciliation," Brass surmised.

"Yeah. I thought, once Victor got this new guy out of his system, he'd come around," Fred confessed.

"But he didn't, did he? That's why you went to his house last night," Grissom said.

"Who said I went there?" Fred scoffed.

"The plastic," Grissom said as he held up the plastic sample, "OYu know…the plastic that you lay down when you paint a house. The kind of plastic that you, uh…wrap a dead body in. The plastic that we found your fingerprints on."

"Let me tell you what I think happened," Brass suggested.

_Begin flashback_

"_Take what you want. I don't care. I've moved on," Victor proclaimed._

"_What do you think you're gonna do? Just paint me out of your life?" Fred asked, clearly upset._

"_Just take what you want and get out!" Victor pleaded him._

"_I'll tell you what I want," Fred retorted as he walked away…and shot him._

_He then wrapped Victor's body in the plastic sheets and drove to the storage shed where he placed the body in the trunk. But he couldn't. So he chopped his head off and then shut the trunk. With the head and the shoes, he ran down the hallway and went to his car…only to realize he forgot something._

"_Damn it! God!" Fred exclaimed as he ran back._

_End flashback_

"So what did you forget?" Brass asked.

"You wouldn't believe it. But I forgot to lock the shed," Fred muttered sheepishly.

"And when you came back out, your car was gone," Brass piped in.

"Yeah. I don't know who took it," Fred said.

"We do," Grissom said.

With that, Brass led Fred out, intending to take him to the station and filing charges against him. Grissom and Nick picked up the evidence.

"You know, that reminds me. I gotta remember to take Greg Sanders to lunch. He did a nice job sniffing out those peanuts," Grissom remarked as he left.

"Yeah. He did," Nick nodded with a smile.

* * *

><p>"We were waiting for you," O'Riley remarked as Warrick walked into the room, "Meet Ronnie Connors."<p>

"Where's his attorney?" Warrick asked.

"What you talking to him about my business? Ask me," Ronnie requested with attitude.

"Where's your lawyer?" Warrick asked him.

"Ask him," Ronnie smirked, referring to O'Riley.

Neither Warrick or O'Riley said anything. They instead sat down before him.

"How's your plaque?" Warrick wanted to know.

"My what?" Ronnie demanded.

"Your teeth. I mean, how many toothbrushes does a guy need?" Warrick questioned, causing Ronnie to go quiet, "Apparently, for you it's as many as it takes to make the perfect shank."

"Let me tell you something, Breeze. I'm L.A County/Slauson payback crip cuz I got a lot of offspring up in here – black as night. They answer to me because I'm the macaroni. I mean, seriously…you have any idea who you talking to?" Ronnie asked.

"Yeah," Warrick nodded.

* * *

><p>"So I don't have to testify?" James surmised after Warrick told him everything.<p>

Warrick shook his head and said, "The evidence will testify for you. Ronnie Connors brought a toothbrush and some rubber bands at the commissary. He didn't know it. But that's the last shank he'll ever make."

"How'd you know it was RC's?" James asked.

"Before he made the shank, he shaved with the same razor. His DNA was all over the blade," Warrick answered.

"Oh God," James sighed in relief as he finally realized that he was off the hook, "I owe you, man."

"It's not me you have to thank," Warrick retorted.

Warrick gestured to behind James, who turned around and saw his grandpa standing there. James immediately stood up and went to meet him. The last time they had seen each other was when James went away for that hit-and-run incident. Mr Moore grabbed James and entrapped him with a solid hug.

"I love you, Grandpa," James whispered.

"You're all I got, James. You're everything to me. You hear?" Mr Moore said.

Warrick decided to leave then. The moment should be between them alone. With no witnesses.

* * *

><p>"I thought you said we were grabbing a beer," Warrick said in confusion as Grissom dragged him onto the roller coaster.<p>

"We are. After this," Grissom promised excitedly.

"Grissom, you know, this is your thing," Warrick began as he went to leave…only to have Grissom pull him back down.

"Ah-ah-ah. Every nine years and 34 days, I feel like sharing. I'd share it with Kadelin. But she's too young and too short. You'll like it. It cleanses you," Grissom reassured him as he pulled down Warrick's harness and strapped him in, preventing escape.

"Cleanses me?" Warrick repeated as Grissom strapped himself in, "Whatever happened to my evaluation?"

"You're sitting in it," Grissom said.

The roller coaster took off at that. At first, Warrick was scared. But the further the ride went on, the more Warrick began to enjoy himself. He couldn't help it. It was fun.

"OH YES!"

* * *

><p><strong>Could've been done better. But I just wanted to get this up so I can start the finale! WHOO!<strong>

**BYE!**


	24. Strip Strangler

**Strip Strangler: A signature killer is torturing, raping and killing young women who are single parents to daughters under the age of five and brutally killing their daughters. Grissom and his team find catching the Strip Strangler to be a challenge as he possesses satisfactory knowledge of forensics to leave very little evidence behind. Much to Grissom's dismay, the Sheriff decides to involve Special Agent Culpepper from the FBI. Unfortunately, the anger that Nick and Grissom share only grows when he want to use Sara and Kady as bait.**

**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! IT'S THE FINALE! I own nothing aside from Kady.**

**ENJOY!**

**Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go cry in a corner.**

* * *

><p>Eileen Snow gasped as she suddenly bolted upright in her bed as lighting flashed outside. It was in the midst of a massive thunderstorm in Las Vegas. One that would keep children up at night in fear and have adults worrying that something bad was going to happen like it always does in the horror movies. She looked around the room as the thunder rumbled and more lightning flashed. The window was shut and the closet light was on. She heard the creeking sound of the door opening.<p>

A four-year-old girl walked into the room, holding her homemade dolly. She was whimpering. Eileen immediately relaxed at the sight of her young daughter.

"Amabel, come here. It's OK, snug bug," Eileen murmured in reassurance.

Amabel immediately ran over and Eileen helped her onto the bed and tucked her in. They wrapped their arms around each other and tried to get back to sleep. However, they bolted upright again.

"Mummy?" Amabel whispered.

A man was standing in the room. A hooded sweatshirt was covered his face. In his hand was an iron cord. Eileen and Amabel started screaming as he snapped the cord and approached them.

In a matter of moments, their life became a horror movie.

* * *

><p>Grissom walked into the bedroom with his kit in his hand. Brass followed his every footstep. Officers were already in the room holding the scene. There was a sombre mood in the air. Eileen was lying on the bed with both her hands tied to the bedposts. Her mouth was bruised, suggesting a beating. Her eyes were wide open. Staring into nothing. Sprawled on the bed next to her was Amabel. Her head was resting on Eileen's stomach with one arm under her head and the other draped across her stomach. Her eyes were closed. It was as if she was in a peaceful sleep. But having dealt with cases like this before, they knew better. Especially when they noticed the bruises on her neck.<p>

"Eileen Jane Snow and her daughter, Amabel Taylor Snow. Lady Eileen carpools with couldn't get her to answer the door. Police broke in," Brass explained.

"This is exactly the same as the last two," Grissom sighed grimly.

"Audrey Hayes and her daughter, Langley Taylor Hayes, were killed in the basement. Tracey Berg and her daughter, Austen Taylor Berg, ended up in a park," Brass recalled.

"Different M.O. But it's the same signature," Grissom retorted.

"M.O is how he breaks in. Signature's what he does inside," Brass pointed out.

"Three or four overpowering blows to the head from a homemade weapon fashioned at the scene for the mother. Forces her to drink a mixture of sodium amytal as a chemical restraint. Overligature of the victim…and an object rape. Then he strangles her. Ejaculates on the bedsheets. Poses her like a pinup. He makes their daughters – aged between three and five – watch the whole thing by tying her to the bedpost. And when it's over, he kills the daughter by snapping her neck then placing her on the bed, making it look like she's sleeping with her mother. The young girls are just collateral damage so he can't be identified," Grissom explained.

Sara had walked in while Grissom was recalling to Brass how the victims were killed. She reacted badly to the sight of Eileen and Amabel. She couldn't believe this was happening. The killer had struck again. After Grissom kept on promising her and the others that they would catch him before he struck again. When he first promised, Tracey and Langley were found in the park a week later. He promised that two weeks ago. Now look where they are.

"Damn it," Sara growled.

"Sara," Brass began warningly, finally taking note of his presence.

"Damn that guy!" Sara snapped as she walked out of the bedroom, causing Grissom to pull her into the hallway.

"Listen. No emotions in here," Grissom began reprimanding her.

"He's escalating, Grissom!" Sara protested.

"That's his pattern! It's a continuum!" Grissom told her.

"Guess he wants to get caught," Sara remarked.

"Signature killers never want to get caught. And they won't stop until they do," Grissom retorted.

Insert title credits here

"I have tape-lifted, roll-lifted – I'm not finding one hair," Sara decreed as Warrick went through the sheets of the bed and Grissom watched from the doorway.

"I wonder what that might mean," Grissom pondered as he raised his eyebrows.

"He vacuumed the place before he left. We've established that he utilizes materials from the victim's domicile," Sara said.

That was when Sara walked over to the closet, hoping to find something. When she opened the door, she noticed the vacuum cleaner sitting there. She opened the machine to look inside, hoping to find the bag inside the machine. She found nothing.

"Hey, guys. He took the bag," Sara pointed out.

"Well, look for prints," Grissom instructed.

"Don't bother," Catherine protested as she walked in wearing eyewear and holding something that searched for prints, "There aren't any. Just like the last time. The guy's Mr Clean. Here. Knock yourself out."

"Thanks," Sara nodded as she accepted the products Catherine was offering her.

"He stalked this woman. He knew how much time he had to kill her and her daughter and to clean up after himself," Grissom stated.

"I'll tell Brass to check for sex offenders in a two-mile radius," Catherine decided.

"Yeah. Have him check peeping toms too, five years back. That's how they get started," Grissom said.

"Peeping toms to murders?" Warrick repeated.

"It's about crossing boundaries. It's like, uh, with cake, you know? You're just going to have a little bit of the frosting and you end up eating the entire plate," Grissom remarked.

"Nobody move!" Warrick suddenly cried as he held a strand of hair in the air with his tweezers, "Mr Clean needs a maid. I'm going to take this back to the lab."

"Gil, I need a word with you outside," Sheriff Brian Mobley decreed as he walked in.

Warrick immediately knew that if the sheriff was asking for Grissom, it wasn't going to be good. He was right.

* * *

><p>"You're bringing the FBI in? Why?" Grissom demanded once they were outside.<p>

"They offered their assistance and I'm inclined to take it. Of course, uh, I'd want to make sure you're OK with that," that last sentence contained sarcasm in his voice.

Grissom slid his sunglasses on with a sigh, "I-I don't believe the investigation should go that way, Brain. I mean, roadblocks and special ops?"

"Oh, that's a pity. 'Cause I do. Maybe you'll feel different when you meet Rick Culpepper," Brian said.

As if he was summoned, Rick Culpepper walked up to them and held his hand out to the sheriff.

"Sheriff Mobley," Agent Culpepper greeted.

"Rick," Brian nodded as they shook hands.

"Hi. Rick Culpepper. Federal Bureau of Investigation," Agent Culpepper introduced himself.

"Gil Grissom, Agent Culpepper," Grissom responded as they shook hands.

"Uh, 'Special Agent'," Agent Culpepper corrected, "It's great to meet you. All our kids back in Quantico are always going on about your bugs. Well, listen. The FBI is here to help you and your people at CSI. Of course, uh, as SAC, the investigation will run through me. Sheriff probably already told you that."

"No. He didn't mention that either," Grissom revealed as he glanced at the sheriff himself, who was standing there silently.

"All rivers run through Rome, so to speak," Agent Culpepper chuckled, "But, uh, you get an 'attaboy.' Three women and their daughters dead 'cause you couldn't get the job done. There's not many guys who would hand the case over to us Fibbies."

"I'm not handing it over," Grissom protested, "I'm willing to work in conjunction with you."

"Well, that's fine. We'll work the Strip Strangler case in conjunction," Agent Culpepper decreed.

"The what?" Grissom demanded.

"He strangles the mothers near Las Vegas Boulevard then removes their clothes. Their daughters are just collateral damage. Strip Strangler. Why? What do you call him?" Agent Culpepper asked.

"Unknown Signature Homicide, Metropolitan Las Vegas," Grissom answered honestly.

"Oh. He's not kidding, is he?" Agent Culpepper asked Brian, earning a shake of the head.

"Excuse me. Guy over here's got something you might wanna hear. Syd Goggle. He's a security guard. Community patrol. Says he saw a man speeding away from here last night," Sergeant O'Riley intervened.

That was enough for Grissom to leave Brian and Agent Culpepper for the time being. Immediately, he followed O'Riley towards the man behind the yellow tape amongst the crowd and media.

"Mr, uh, Goggle? Gil Grissom," Grissom introduced himself as Syd is let through the tape.

"I know who you are, sir. I've seen you on TV," Syd confessed sheepishly.

"Special Agent Culpepper. You have information for us, sir? About a man fleeing the scene?" Agent Culpepper asked as he butted in.

Syd ignored him and continued to speak to Grissom, "I didn't get his license. I didn't think of it till this morning. But he was really burning rubber, though."

"Would you please give Detective O'Riley a full statement? If we have anymore questions, we'll get back to you," Grissom promised.

"Listen, if you need any help in your investigation, Mr Grissom," Syd began to offer.

"The last time a security guard tried to help me, he ended up dead. But thank you," Grissom cut him short.

"This way," O'Riley said as he led Syd away.

"I'm late for their autopsies," Grissom decreed as he walked away.

"He'll need a little patience," Brian warned Agent Culpepper.

"Wouldn't respect him if he didn't," Agent Culpepper remarked.

* * *

><p>Nick sighed as he stared at Amabel lying on the cold metal slab. Four years old. She was too young to end up here. She had barely begun to live. She wasn't even in school yet. He hated murders. Sure. But what Nick hated most about murders is when the victims are kids. Knowing that all the evidence they'll be able to get has been removed, he moved her hair from her face in a fatherly fashion. As if that was his own daughter lying there.<p>

Just like his nightmares.

"What can you tell us?" Nick asked after a heavy silence.

"Nothing you don't know. Trauma to the head with a blunt object for the mother. Overwhelmed her. He got a mixture of sodium amytal in her," Doc Robbins told them.

"A hypnotic," Nick sighed.

"Allowed him to control her for up to six hours. Torture her. Look at the bruises. Purple means she was alive for all of it," Doc Robbins observed.

"Percussive control," Nick surmised.

"He choked her unconscious and then brought her to multiple times. What about the rape?" Grissom wanted to know.

"Same as the others: indeterminate object caused severe internal lacerations," Doc Robbins answered, "I did find a small trace of something creviced in the uterine wall. Looks like an everyday polymer to me."

"What about Amabel?" Nick asked, already fearing the answer.

"Same as Langley and Austen. Ligature marks on her wrists. Found matching polymers on her pyjama sleeves, suggesting that mother and daughter were tied by the same type of fabric. Was killed when the killer twisted her head swiftly. Broke her neck," Doc Robbins explained.

"She was so young," Nick whispered.

"I looked at her medical records. Like with Austen and Langley, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia the day before the murder. She was due to begin treatment next week," Doc Robbins announced.

"I'm gonna go back to the crime scene. See if I can find anything like the fibres," Nick decided, finding himself unable to be in the room.

"Be careful, Nicky. The cliché's true. Signatures return to their scenes," Grissom warned.

"Will do," Nick nodded before running out of the room, discretely wiping tears from his eyes.

"Are we done?" Grissom asked Doc Robbins after spending a few moments gazing worriedly after the young CSI who has become a son to him over the years.

"Something we didn't find with the other two killings," Doc Robbins corrected as he held up a single strand of cotton fibre and handed it to Grissom, "Fibres. One in the back of Eileen's throat. The other stuck between Amabel's two front teeth."

"This looks like cotton. Maybe terry cloth," Grissom shrugged, earning a hum from Doc Robbins, "Could be silencing them with…white bath towels?"

"Well, it would explain why no one hears their screams," Doc Robbins remarked.

"He brings it with him and takes it away after. So, somewhere, there's evidence of this victim on a towel," Grissom realized.

"Kind of a forensic smoking gun," Doc Robbins smirked.

"Now we just have to find the guy and hope that he hasn't done his laundry," Grissom remarked.

* * *

><p>"The semen taken from this morning's homicides matches the semen taken from the bedsheets of the last victims," Greg decreed as he showed the results to Catherine.<p>

"So we're looking at the same guy," Catherine surmised.

"Yeah. But check this out. The ejaculate sample," Greg went on.

Catherine looked at the ejaculate sample under the microscope. It was the regular white. But there was something different. There were red splotches mixed in.

"What's the red stuff?" Catherine asked.

"Mystery substance," Greg answered.

"Not blood?" Catherine exclaimed in disbelief.

"No," Greg shook this head.

"So what? This guy's got some strange chemical in his mutated DNA?" Catherine guessed.

"Freaky, huh?" Greg smirked.

"Freakiest semen I've seen in a while. Call me," Catherine requested as she walked out of the DNA lab…and almost bumped into the sheriff himself, "Oh!"

"Catherine, you busy? I was hoping we might be able to talk about a few things," Brian said.

"Pertaining to the case?" Catherine asked.

"As a jumping-off point," Brian shrugged.

"Well, Sheriff, I'd say let's go to my office. But I don't have one," Catherine remarked.

Brian looked behind him before saying to Catherine slyly, "Well, that's just the sort of thing I was hoping we would discuss."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Warrick. You got a second?" Sara asked as she saw Warrick walk by the trace lab.<p>

"What's up?" Warrick wanted to know as he walked in.

"I got this hair that you guys found this morning and I'm trying to compare it to the one hair we recovered from the murder a few weeks ago. Audrey and Langley Hayes?" Sara began.

"And you got a match microscopically but it doesn't mean a damn thing 'cause it still doesn't lead us to the guy?" Warrick guessed.

"No. I can't even tell if we have a DNA match. There's no skin tag on either one," Sara decreed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! A girl defending herself against a guy is going to pull that hair out by the roots. I mean, you get scalp skin filled with DNA!" Warrick protested.

"No scalp. No skin. It's almost like this hair was…," Sara trailed off.

"Shed?" Warrick finished in disbelief…before their pagers went off.

"Mine!" they both cried.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Gil. You wanna give me the skinny on this meeting of yours? I'm on my way back to the crime scene," Nick told him.<p>

"What meeting? I'm going to evidence," Grissom protested as he ruffled Kady's hair, not even having the guts to separate the young child from her single overprotective father.

"I got paged about the signature case," Nick shrugged as Sara and Warrick caught off with them.

"Hey. Warrick and I just got a break. The guy's been planting hairs," Sara proclaimed.

"Shedding. He's trying to throw us off. What he doesn't realize, we got no DNA on the hairs. So we can't chase down his other suspect," Warrick explained.

Grissom wasn't listening. He noticed that Agent Culpepper and several federal agents were occupying the layout room as if it was their own. That angered Grissom.

"Grissom…are you hearing us?" Sara asked.

"You all got my page. Good," Agent Culpepper said as Grissom and his team walked in, "I'm assuming you're Kadelin."

"Hi," Kady greeted as Nick bounced her higher onto his hip when she began to slide down.

"I didn't get the page," Grissom protested.

"We'll get you a new battery," Agent Culpepper shrugged casually, angering Grissom, "I thought we'd convo about the strangler. Hear what you've got, tell you what we think out next move should be."

"Would you guys go back to my office, please?" Grissom asked softly as he softly kissed Kady's cheek, "I'll be in a few minutes."

Nick, Warrick and Sara nodded before leaving the room. When they were about to walk in, however, Sara stopped.

"Sara, Grissom told us to go in," Nick reminded her.

"I'll be there in a few minutes. Do you mind if I take Kadelin?" Sara asked.

"You wanna go with Aunty Sara?" Nick asked Kady, earning a nod from Kady and a kiss on the cheek, "OK. I have to go back out to the scene. So you're gonna stay with Aunty Sara, OK?"

"Love you, daddy," Kady beamed as Nick gave her butterfly kisses.

"Love you too, butterfly," Nick murmured as he nuzzled noses with her and kissed her head before passing Kady to Sara.

"I'm not liking the sound of this," Warrick remarked.

"Me neither," Nick agreed.

They followed Sara and decided to eavesdrop on the conversation between CSI and the FBI. One thing they learned from working a joint case with the feds…

It hardly ends well.

* * *

><p>"I'll be happy to pass on any pertinent information you may have to my team," Grissom told Agent Culpepper.<p>

"OK. Fine. Got anything to report to us?" Agent Culpepper asked.

"You first," Grissom retorted.

"OK. We have an operation in place. Your CSI, Sidle, has expressed an interest in my agents in availing herself. I wanted to let you know before we made the official offer," Agent Culpepper announced.

"Really? What kind of operation?" Grissom asked, inwardly knowing where this was going.

"All this talk about your great capacity for observation. Sara Sidle matches the victim prototype to a T. She's a young woman, brunette, tall for a female," Agent Culpepper began.

"But she doesn't have any children. She can't have children due to an infection a few years back. Where are you going to find a child that suits the profile?" Grissom demanded. **(AN: OK. I don't know if the character can actually have children. But for the purpose of the Kady series, let's just say she can't, OK?)**

"But she has a goddaughter. They happen to look slightly alike despite not being related. She has a name not commonly used. And…she shares the same middle name as Langley, Austen and Amabel; Taylor," Agent Culpepper said.

Grissom felt his heart sink to his stomach then. He refused to believe they would do something like this. He began hoping that it wasn't true. However, he turned around and saw Sara standing in the hallway with Kady in her arms. Their eyes said it all. Agent Culpepper wasn't lying. They were setting up a sting operation.

And using the woman he loved and his goddaughter as bait.

Nick stormed in then. He overheard everything. So did Warrick. He couldn't believe that the FBI was planning to use his daughter – his baby girl – as bait to draw out a signature killer and didn't consult him – her father – about it.

"You're not serious!" Grissom and Nick protested.

"And by all reports, Sara's steady, has the right personality for a decoy operation and Kadelin's much more gifted than any other four-year-old girl. She fits the profile as well," Agent Culpepper finished.

"You're going to bait this guy with two human beings? You're going to involve a four-year-old girl – my goddaughter – in a sting operation? This is your big FBI plan?" Grissom asked in disbelief.

"Before he kills again, yes," Agent Culpepper nodded, "Got a better idea?"

"Understanding him first – completely – so that we can get ahead of him," Grissom answered.

"And if he kills again while we're trying to understand him?" Agent Culpepper retorted.

"Well, I'm sorry. I want this SOB off the streets as much as you do. But for me, my daughter's safety comes first. I've suffered enough losing my wife. I'm not gonna lose my daughter," Nick decreed.

"And he's not going to kill my CSI either," Grissom added.

"I'm going to do it, Grissom," Sara interrupted, causing Grissom to look at her in surprise, "I want to. Kady does too."

"You're not doing this, Kadelin," Nick protested.

"It's what's right," Kady protested.

"You two want to put yourself in the path of a psychotic killer?" Grissom gasped, hurt evident in his voice.

"I'm trained in weaponless defence. You guys know that I would die before I let anyone harm KT. That sonofabitch is no exception," Sara reassured them.

"Well, that's too bad. Because that's what turns him on: women fighting back. Gives him a greater sense of power when he makes his final kill," Grissom retorted.

"Uncle Gil," Kady began.

"Sit down, girls!" Grissom snapped.

Silently, Sara took a seat and sat Kady in her lap. Nick wanted nothing than to take his daughter off Sara and keep her away from the FBI so they couldn't use her in their sting operation. But Kady's eyes were pleading him to let her do this. He knew Sara wouldn't let anyone harm Kady. Not if she could help it. But it was still too dangerus.

She's all he had left. And he wasn't going to lose her either.

"OK. If we're to follow your line of thinking, are you out ahead of him?" Agent Culpepper sighed.

"Not yet. He knows just enough about forensics to be dangerous. He thinks he's throwing us off track by planting confederate hairs. He probably shaves his head – maybe his entire body – as DNA protection. He may gag his victims – both mother and daughter – using a garden-variety bath towel, which he takes with him as part of his murder kit. He will go after another tall brunette with a young daughter aged between three and five and the torture will be worse. But this time, he won't ejaculate. At least not at the scene," Grissom pointed out.

"At home, later. He's learning control," Agent Culpepper surmised.

"Think he knows his next victims?" Sara asked timidly.

"Signature killers always know their next victims. But they don't know him," Nick began as Grissom turned to face Sara.

"Until he tortures, rapes and kills them," Grissom finished.

* * *

><p>True to his word, Nick went back to the apartment of Eileen and Amabel Snow, intent on finding more evidence that would help them catch the Strip Strangler. His mind was reeling. How could the FBI have not asked Nick if Kady was allowed to be involved in a decoy operation? Was Agent Culpepper seriously unable to just walk up to him and do, 'Hey. We wanna use your daughter in a federal decoy operation to bring out the Strip Strangler. Will you let us do so even though she could potentially get killed?'<p>

That was when Nick noticed something by the chair in front of the window. He picked it up and observed it. A small piece of latex…

From latex gloves like the ones they use when processing evidence.

Nick suddenly heard a creek, causing him to turn towards the closet. He noticed the closet light was off when it was on before. Slowly, he approached the closet door, hoping that it was the Strip Strangler returning to the scene so they could finally end this once and for all. However, he didn't get his wish. He opened the door to reveal…

Lynda Darby, a local journalist.

Both of them screamed in surprise and Nick took a step back.

"Freeze!" Nick cried, causing Lynda to raise her hands to show her digital camera, "Get out of there! Get out of the closet!"

Still shaking and trying to get her heart rate back to normal, Lynda stepped out of the closet.

"What are you doing?" Nick demanded.

"Um, I'm a reporter. What? We know the police are withholding information from us. So I came down here because-," Lynda's rambling was cut of.

"Alright! Quiet. Quiet. Are you out of your mind? I could've killed you! This is a crime scene! You don't belong here! Unless you want me to get the cop at the front door, you'll get out of here now! And I'd better not see any pictures of this apartment in your paper…or I'll have the DA on your front door!" Nick threatened her.

"I'm sorry that I scared you," Lynda apologized.

"You didn't scare me!" Nick shook his head with a hum. _If you wanna know what being scared means, try working in this business and being a single father to a four-year-old girl!_

"Wanna tell me what you found over by the window?" Lynda asked.

"No," Nick immediately answered.

"OK," Lynda whispered as she left, not wanting to push her luck any further than she had.

* * *

><p>"Fast. I'm impressed," Catherine complimented as she walked into the DNA lab.<p>

"You got a hot dog?" Greg asked.

"This one of your jokes, Greg?" Catherine sighed.

"I got the ketchup," Greg smirked.

"I'm sure this is meaningful," Catherine said.

"I went back and looked at the ejaculate from the last two murders. The same thing. "Indeterminate red stuff." It's C12, H22 and O11, NaCl, H2O and tomato paste," Greg explained.

"Sugar, water, salt and tomato paste," Catherine surmised the ingredients, "Ketchup?"

"Ketchup," Greg repeated.

"Well, does he add it after or is it organic?" Catherine asked.

"Don't ask me why. But, uh…he adds it," Greg answered.

* * *

><p>"I was expecting something a little more elemental," Grissom scoffed.<p>

"When we zig, he zags," Catherine sighed.

"Yeah, well, he's not as smart as he thinks, you know? I mean, ketchup is not gonna mask the DNA in his semen," Grissom pointed out.

"All of which I'm sure you'll share with the FBI," Catherine smirked.

"I'm sure," Grissom nodded.

"Hey. Is it so bad to avail our lab to the resources of the federal government?" Catherine asked.

"You've been talking to our sheriff!" Grissom exclaimed in surprise.

"I've been listening to our sheriff," Catherine corrected, "He says that you won't."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. And fi I don't shape up, he's going to have Ecklie take over the case," Grissom scoffed.

"Well, no. He preferred someone from night shift and it may be more than just this case," Catherine trailed off, causing Grissom to lean over the desk towards her.

"Ah… Now that the trees are gone, I can almost see the forest," Grissom remarked.

"Gil…learn to be more politic," Catherine advised.

"You guys got a sec?" Nick asked as he walked in, "He's wearing latex gloves. The thick kind too. He must know the thin ones leave prints."

"When we zig, he zags," Catherine sighed.

* * *

><p>"What about Paul Millander? Maybe he's our guy. And, uh, he had the latex hands. And he's a serial," Brass suggested.<p>

"Millander stages suicides in bathtubs with paternal figures. This guy's signature is overkill rage against young women and their young daughters. It's completely different," Grissom protested.

"Maybe our brethren at the FBI have some sort of special database," Brass shrugged.

"When did you become friendly with the Feds? I didn't think you had that in you!" Grissom remarked.

"Never make an enemy when you can just as easily make a friend. FBI's OK. I've kissed worse ass. But I've got to say I don't like this decoy op the Feds are talking up; especially since they wanna involve Kadelin," Brass growled the last part, causing Grissom to suddenly sit upright, "I remember when Holly Gribbs died. I sent her out in the field and she wasn't ready."

"I told Culpepper that the only way he would have my CSI or my goddaughter would be over my dead body!" Grissom growled.

"I know what you told him," Brass said.

Grissom began fearing that what Brass was implying is that Sara and Kady went ahead with the decoy operation after both he and Nick told them that they couldn't do it. Storming out of his office, he got out his phone and called Nick.

"Nick, do you have Kadelin with you?" Grissom asked, praying that he did.

"_No. Sara took her. Don't tell me…_"

"I'll pick you up from the lab. The FBI's going through with the decoy operation!" Grissom proclaimed.

* * *

><p>"OK, listen up! All personnel will be tethered to our decoy by this radio!" Agent Culpepper shouted as the techs began hooking Sara to a radio and she was helping Kady get ready, "According to Captain James Brass, two of our assailant's victims patronized this specialty grocery store with their daughters, which we are about to embark forthwith, two days before they turned up dead! There's a very good chance our assailant will re-frequent this store, looking for his next victims!"<p>

"This is a pretty flimsy excuse to get your circus up and running, don't you think?" Grissom boomed as he and Nick walked up to the van as Sara and Kady stepped out.

"Lives are at stake. I'll take flimsy over nothing," Agent Culpepper retorted.

"This is action for action's sake, Culpepper. You're risking the lives of my daughter and my friend!" Nick protested.

"I'm not letting my CSI or my goddaughter get killed under your watch," Grissom added.

"Can you give us a minute?" Sara requested, causing Agent Culpepper to nod.

"I'll talk to Kady," Nick decreed as he grabbed her and walked towards the Tahoe.

"Grissom, this is my idea. I talked to Kady about this. She's all for it. She wants to do this. I want to do this. We want to do something before another girl and her young daughter gets killed and…," Sara trailed off.

"Listen to me, Sara. If we study his past, we can predict his future," Grissom told her.

"You've been saying that for weeks. It's taking too long. Someone else is going to die and you're still going to be figuring it out," Sara retorted.

* * *

><p>"Do you understand how dangerous this is?" Nick asked.<p>

"What's the big deal?" Kady demanded.

"It's risky, Kadelin. This could get you killed! And I wouldn't be able to bear it! I almost lost you once! I can't let that happen!" Nick retorted as he grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently, his eyes glazed over with unshed tears.

"If I don't do this, there'll be more girls ending up like Langley and Austen. It's the only way. Please let me do this!" Kady pleaded him.

Nick looked at his young daughter and wondered how they got here. She was wise beyond her years and very street-smart. The CSIs and lab techs have taught her things a four-year-old girl shouldn't know about. But she had taken it pretty well. He never imagined having his young daughter growing up faster than she had to.

"Alright. But you better stay safe, butterfly. You hear me?" Nick pleaded as he held her tight and kissed her cheek.

"OK. Sidle, Kadelin, we're good to go," Agent Culpepper proclaimed.

"Wish me luck," Sara pleaded Grissom as she took Kadelin from Nick and climbed into the van.

Grissom couldn't believe that he had lost the fight. Frustrated and helpless, he turned to face Brass and Nick who were just as helpless.

* * *

><p>Sara had grabbed a trolley and sat Kady in the compartment that turned into a child's seat. Due to her being born two months premature, her stature was smaller than that of a regular four-year-old girl. So she was still able to fit into the child's seat of a trolley. Sara slowly walked through the store, watching each person carefully. There was nothing in the trolley, suggesting that she was still looking for what she needed. Grissom, Nick and Agent Culpepper sat in the van watching the surveillance.<p>

"Oh…it's three hours expanded," Agent Culpepper sighed as he cleared his throat, "Maybe we should reposition over at that Borders book store. Gets a lot of foot traffic in there according to the field agents."

"Good luck getting her out of there if you do," Nick chuckled, "She loves books."

Sara decided to walk over to the herbs and spices. She saw chilli powder, paiseley, oregano and many more. She recalled from one of the nights that Kady stayed over that she loves Italian. Especially lasagne.

"How about we have lasagne for dinner tonight, KT?" Sara suggested, slipping into the role of a child's mother as someone walked past.

"Yummy!" Kady nodded eagerly.

Nick smiled as he watched Sara laugh and kiss Kady's head affectionately. There was no denying. She and Grissom have become second parents to her. They always volunteer to babysit her whenever Nick needs to go somewhere. They were like a family.

"Whoa!" Nick exclaimed as he noticed something.

"That guy's coming back," Grissom observed.

A male shopper had noticed Sara and Kady deciding what they were going to be cooking. Needless to say, he was interested in them. For the wrong reasons.

"Would you happen to have a cigarette?" he asked.

"Uh…yeah, actually," Sara nodded as she reached into the bag the FBI had given her as part of the undercover operation.

"Culpepper," both Nick and Grissom said, clearly nervous over what could possibly happen.

"Let them play," Agent Culpepper told them.

"I've been trying to quit. Didn't wanna buy another pack," he confessed.

"I've been trying to quit. That's what my daughter wanted for her 4th birthday. This is my last pack," Sara decreed as she offered him the pack, "But, uh, I say that every other week."

"Non-filtered," he observed as Sara placed the packet of cigarettes back into the purse, "The women I know smoke filtered – you know those long, skinny cigarettes?"

"Guess it depends on the woman," Kady remarked.

"Guess it does, kid," he nodded as he smiled at Sara and placed the cigarette between his lips, "You got a light?"

"Sure. Yeah," Sara answered as she searched for the light.

"Bananas," Kady whispered.

Bananas was the code word the two women had agreed on during the van ride towards the shop. If one of them noticed something suspicious about someone, they'd say 'Bananas.' Immediately, Sara knew to be on her guard with this guy.

Kady tended to be right about these things.

"You two live around here?" he asked casually.

"Maybe," Sara responded as she looked up at him, "I don't usually give out that kind of information. Especially since Kadelin was born. To keep her safe."

"It's probably smart. I wouldn't tell me either," he remarked before suddenly saying, "You're cute. I can see where your daughter gets her good looks from."

"Thanks," Sara nodded.

When Sara was preoccupied with Kady, he took his chance. He reached into the bag and pulled out her wallet. Sara turned around just in time to see this.

"HEY!" both Sara and Kady cried.

At that moment, all the FBI agents and police officers – led by Agent Culpepper, Grissom and Nick – stormed into the store and apprehended the guy.

"Don't move!"

"I'll give it back! Here!" he cried as he dropped the wallet to the floor.

Taking his chance, Nick holstered his gun and ran past all of them towards the trolley. He scooped Kady into his arms and held her tight and close, showering her with multiple kisses. While he was in that van, he was close to freaking out, thinking the Strip Strangler would choose her as his next victim. He hadn't been so relieved since Ecklie got Kady back after she almost ended up in the foster system.

"Yeah. Culpepper," Agent Culpepper answered his ringing phone, "Time and coordinates? Yeah, will do. Alright, gentlemen. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I don't believe this is our man."

"What was your first clue?" Nick asked dryly.

"Murder at the Monaco Hotel. Woman found bound in her room stripped and strangled. Three-year-old daughter found dead next to her," Agent Culpepper announced.

Nick felt the same horrible feeling he felt when they found Langley, Austen and Amabel dead. Another young girl was denied a chance to live along with her mother. Grissom promised this wouldn't happen again. Now another mother/daughter duo is found dead.

Can this get worse?

* * *

><p>"He met the profile," Sara murmured.<p>

"Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to do nothing," Grissom stated.

With those words said, the four of them left, finding no other reason to stay.

They found themselves in the hotel room. Well…at least Grissom, Catherine, Brass and Agent Culpepper did. Déjà vu is what they felt when they saw the two bodies lying on the bed. The sight of the young girl made them all feel sick.

"Starting to look like déjà vu all over again," Catherine remarked, only to have Grissom hum as he saw Brass and Agent Culpepper interview the husband/father, "Not?"

"Occasionally, I'm struck by the absence of evidence," Grissom confessed.

"It's there or it isn't," Catherine sighed.

"The lamp – cord's still attached. All the others, he yanked the cords off. Look at the table. Books aren't even disturbed," Grissom observed.

"Staged?" Catherine suggested.

"First time in a hotel? First time he didn't come in through the window?" Grissom shrugged.

"I don't think he made a deposit…either," Catherine said as Agent Culpepper joined them.

"That just means his signature's evolving. Isn't that right, Grissom?" Agent Culpepper asked, causing Grissom to go quiet.

"Who's the guy?" Grissom asked Brass when he joined them moments later.

"He's the husband and father. His name's Brad Walden. They're locals. Come here a couple times a year. He was downstairs playing poker. She was up here reading a romance novel and looking after their daughter, Lilibeth Taylor Walden. He comes back five grand richer. He finds them like this," Brass explained.

"Husband? Let's bring him in," Grissom suggested.

"I'll transport the witness," Agent Culpepper nodded.

"Witness? Suspect," Grissom corrected.

* * *

><p>Grissom was expecting to walk into the autopsy room and have Doc Robbins tell him what he already knew. However, Doc Robbins decided to surprise him and meet him halfway.<p>

"What did you get?" Grissom asked.

"I posted the girls from the hotel. And I have to say it's the same menu as the last victims. Chemical restraint, overligature and death by strangulation for the mother. Broken neck for the daughter," Doc Robbins answered.

"What about the object-rape? Indeterminate polymer?" Grissom guessed.

"No. This one's different," Doc Robbins shook his head.

"Different how?" Grissom demanded as they walked back into the autopsy room and Doc Robbins showed him a piece of leather, "Cross-hatched leather with tiny air holes for breathing. I was thinking driving gloves or weightlifting gloves or…"

Doc Robbins looked up to give Grissom some more examples of sources of cross-hatched leather. However, he only looked up to see the autopsy door swing shut.

Grissom had stormed out.

* * *

><p>"I'm not accusing you of anything. But a man, his wife and their daughter get a hotel room for a family weekend than spend that whole weekend apart – makes me wonder if there's any family troubles," Agent Culpepper remarked as he interviewed Brad in the interrogation room at PD.<p>

"I like…to gamble. She liked to read and look after Lilibeth. It was, you know…just the perfect getaway," Brad said.

"You liked to play golf too," Grissom piped in as he walked in with a hard golf club case, "These are your golf clubs. We found them in your hotel room. I prefer a titanium driver, Mr Walden. I'd like to see what you use. But your carrier is locked."

"Yeah. I have a key on my keychain…my car keys," Brad explained.

"So you won't mind opening it though?" Grissom guessed.

"No…," Brad trailed off as he took out his keys, "Uh, uh, w-why?"

"Well, so I can see if the leather on your club handle matches the leather from the object used to violate your wife," Grissom answered as Brad went to unlock the case.

"ell, I-I, you know, if it does…I read that this, uh…this, uh, you know, character uses whatever is at the scene of the crime for, uh…for killing his victims," Brad stated as Grissom took out a golf club and placed it on the table and did with the rest.

"Well, if this "character"…killed your wife and daughter, how did he get your club out of the case without the keys? Or, for that matter, back into the case after he killed your wife and daughter?'

When he reached the third club, he stopped. He noticed the frayed leather on the handle. That was all they needed to catch him for the murders of Jennifer and Lilibeth Walden. But…

Did he kill Eileen, Amabel, Tracey, Austen, Audrey and Langley?

"Why did you kill Lilibeth?" Agent Culpepper asked.

"I never wanted Lilibeth. Hell, I didn't want a family. Then Jenny comes home one day and announces that she's pregnant and is going to keep the baby. So I decided to kill Lilibeth too. So I wouldn't have a kid weighing me down, "Brad answered.

"Read him his rights. You're under arrest for the murders of Jennifer and Lilibeth Walden…and Eileen and Amabel Snow," Agent Culpepper went on, surprising Grissom completely, "And Tracey and Austen Berg and…"

"Can I have a word with you outside…please?" Grissom requested.

* * *

><p>When they stepped out into the hallway, Grissom wasted no time in attempting to make Agent Culpepper's ears ring.<p>

"You can't charge him for the other victims," Grissom decreed.

"What do you mean?" Agent Culpepper demanded.

"For the murders of his wife and daughter, maybe. But I am certain that he didn't do the others," Grissom said.

"Every piece of the signature is there," Agent Culpepper argued.

"He reads the papers. He piggybacked on top of the killer!" Grissom retorted.

"For what possible reason?" Agent Culpepper wanted to know.

"Who knows? Convenient way out of a lousy marriage? Way out of fatherly duties? He's not our guy!" Grissom proclaimed.

"You know, this is where I like to reference the majesty and the power of the Republic of the United States," Agent Culpepper said.

"Go ahead. Pull rank. But that hotel crime scene was staged to look like the signature's," Grissom continued to argue.

"And that golfer just got lucky that the victim type fits his wife and daughter to a Texas T. Is that it?" Agent Culpepper surmised sarcastically.

"If you stop and think, you'll see it," Grissom said.

"Duly noted, Supervisor Grissom," Agent Culpepper said before walking back into the room, "Duly noted!"

* * *

><p>"<em>Details of the arrest will be forthcoming in this live report. Federal Agent Culpepper is about to start his news conference. As we've been reporting, a suspect has been arrested in the Strip Strangler case.<em>"

As Paula Francis had been reporting, there is a news conference going on in the conference room of the police department. Agent Culpepper is about to make an official statement…

With all the wrong facts.

"We believe that Bradley Mac Walden not only killed his wife and daughter. But took the lives of Audrey and Langley Hayes and Eileen and Amabel Snow and Tracey and Austen Berg. Our field agents have divulged that Mr Walden lived within two miles of the other victims, worked in the same office building as Ms Snow and has no believable explanation for his whereabouts on the dates of their murders. We believe that Bradley Mac Walden found and stalked these victims and…," Agent Culpepper was saying.

Grissom wasn't listening. He was paying attention to Catherine who had just come in and was telling him something.

"I just talked with Brass. He said that Walden was having an affair with a dentist in his office," Catherine whispered to him.

"I'm telling you. This guy did not kill those other victims," Grissom continued to protest Agent Culpepper's decision to charge Brad with the other murders.

"This statement is concluded. Las Vegas, its locals and visitors can rest a little easier tonight. A suspect is in custody. Thank you. I'll take some questions," Agent Culpepper proclaimed.

Other reporters were charging at Agent Culpepper with numerous questions about the case. Lynda Darby – the reporter Nick found hiding in Eileen's apartment – was more interested in Grissom.

"Mr Grissom – Lynda Darby. Las Vegas Tribune," Lynda introduced herself, "As the lead CSI on this case, do you have anything to add to the FBI statement?"

"Politics," Catherine warned him quietly.

"No," Grissom shook his head.

"So Las Vegas can breathe easier? You do have the Strip Strangler behind bars?" Lynda asked.

"No. We don't," Grissom answered before standing up and leaving.

"That's all the information we have," Agent Culpepper decrred.

Catherine turned towards the front of the room and saw Sheriff Brian Mobley watching them. She only needed a moment to realize that Brian had watched the whole thing with Grissom…

And to know it wouldn't be good.

* * *

><p>"The FBI did me a favour being here and they have a viable suspect," Brian stated to Grissom outside the building.<p>

"He's not viable, Brian," Grissom protested.

"Then further investigation will prove that. In the meantime, people will feel better about their daily lives. Now why on Earth would you want to counteract that?" Brian asked.

"For those who have to ask, no answer could suffice," Grissom answered.

"Look. I see we've come to an impasse. If further investigation determines that Walden didn't kill those other victims, then you can rejoin the investigation," Brian decreed.

"Oh, do I get the weekend off?" Grissom asked.

"For starters," Brian nodded, "And a two-week holiday. Anywhere but CSI. You brought this on yourself. Now, the next time you want to play with my career, maybe you'll think twice."

* * *

><p>Grissom shut his locker door after removing everything he'd need for his allocated time off. Upon learning that the Sheriff had suspended Grissom for going against the FBI's theories, they immediately protested.<p>

"You know, it's not fair, Grissom. You know more about signatures than most of them put together!" Nick protested.

"That may have been the problem," Catherine pointed out.

"Is there no one you can appeal to?" Warrick asked.

"No," Grissom shrugged, "I'm off."

Sara and Kady remained quiet. Have been since Grissom announced his removal from the case. It wasn't because they were mad at him from trying to stop them from doing that decoy op. Actually, they have forgiven him and Nick over that. It was because they had nothing to say. They couldn't find the right words.

"Come on. This guy's on the loose and there's nothing you can do?" Warrick surmised in disbelief.

"It's all Catherine. She's the boss," Grissom decreed, causing Catherine to look up in surprise, "Good luck."

Grissom turned and left the locker room – and his team that still sat there in shock.

How did it all come down to this?

* * *

><p>As soon as Grissom entered his house, he darted to the living area. Classical music filled the room from his stereo. One of the first things he did was grab his medication and a bottle of water. He felt a migraine coming on and the sooner he did something about it, the better. He sighed as he popped the pills and swallowed them with the water. Once he was done, he began to read over the file he had taken home. Even though he wasn't allowed on the case, there was nothing to stop him from going over what he already knew. Deciding to relax even more, he kicked off his shoes.<p>

He must have fallen asleep. Because when he opened his eyes, Catherine was yelling at him.

"Your door was open. You OK?" Catherine asked worriedly, before noticing the medication, "Migraine. It's been a while."

"I'm not used to having people over than Kadelin in my house," Grissom retorted.

"You just don't like it when you can't solve a case or command your troops," Catherine shot back.

"Did you come here to tell me about your new job?" Grissom sighed as Catherine began looking at the photo Grissom had on his wall.

"I told the Sheriff I'd pass," Catherine proclaimed.

"You don't wanna be Supervisor?" Grissom repeated in disbelief.

"Well, if I get a promotion, I want it to be on merit. Not because you're politically tone-deaf," Catherine said as she turned away from a photo of Grissom and Kady on her first birthday, "So, our guys are outside in their Tahoes. If you're a civilian, we are."

Grissom took a moment to absorb what Catherine had just told him. The team were going to be civilians just because he couldn't work the case with them. Then he heard Catherine say,

"Except we are putting in for overtime!"

Some things never change.

* * *

><p>Moments later, Sara, Nick and Warrick were sitting around Grissom's table in the living room. Kady was sitting in Grissom's lap, Grissom freely showing his desire to not let her go for a while. In fact, it felt as if they were in the break room on a regular work day.<p>

"We should re-examine each victim – all the evidence pertaining to each individually," Grissom immediately suggested.

"Alright. Well, I've got dibs on Eileen and Amabel Snow. And I have a strong feeling I'm going to be the one to break the case," Nick decreed.

"Tracey and Austen Berg," Sara piped in.

"I got Audrey and Langley Hayes. But those fibres we found in the Snow lady's throat aren't going to give us anything. White cotton fibres are like oxygen. They're everywhere," Warrick remarked.

"Well, then go back to your crime scenes and look for a persistence of fibres," Grissom instructed.

"If you can't prove uniqueness, prove abundance," Warrick recited something Grissom told him when he first started at the Crime Lab.

"Something's better than nothing," Grissom stated, earning a mutter in agreement from Warrick.

"Hey. Since you're having the time off, can Kady stay with you?" Nick asked, not wanting to get Kady anymore involved than she already was.

"Do you have to ask?" Grissom retorted as he held Kady tighter to him.

"Love you, daddy," Kady beamed as she hugged Nick.

"Love you too, butterfly," Nick murmured as he showered her with kisses.

* * *

><p>"Hunter F. Baumgartner. Our ketchup DNA guy," Greg proclaimed.<p>

"This guy showed up on the database," Catherine realized the only way Greg was able to identify him.

"CODIS updates its database every couple weeks," Greg pointed out.

"Yeah, well, don't act like it's so simple. This guy could have gone another year without being picked up. What did they get him on?" Catherine asked.

"Well, indecent exposure. Caught in an alley behind the Monaco," Greg answered.

"Suspended sentence. Released two days ago," Catherine read, "Call Grissom on his cell. Tell him that he's gonna need to leave Kadelin with Mrs Innis for a few hours."

Mrs Innis is Grissom's kind elderly neighbour. Whenever he needed to go away, she collected his mail, watered his plants, kept the house clean and never asked for anything in return. She also babysat Kadelin from time to time if Grissom couldn't and Nick wanted her away from the lab.

"I thought he was off the case," Greg protested.

"He is. Dial. Tell him to meet me at this guy's work address," Catherine requested.

* * *

><p>"You think anything illegal goes on in here?" Catherine asked as she and Grissom walked into The Dungeon's Club.<p>

"Excuse me? Hunter?" Grissom asked the bartender.

"Yeah. You two look like you made a wrong turn somewhere," Hunter remarked, clearly amused.

"We're with the Crime Lab. Heard you just copped a plea for indecent exposure," Catherine remarked.

"I'm sorry. I'm working," Hunter told them as he went to leave…only to have Grissom stop him.

"You recognize any of these people?" Grissom asked as he showed Hunter the photos of Audrey, Langley, Tracey, Austen, Eileen and Amabel.

"Yeah. Strip Strangler victims. They're all over TV," Hunter stated.

"Do you know them?" Grissom asked.

"No," Hunter shook his head.

"How do you explain your DNA on the bedsheets they were murdered in?" Catherine wanted to know.

"I don't know," Hunter shrugged.

"Yeah. 'I don't know' doesn't get it, pal. DNA's like fingerprints. No two samples are alike. You were in these women's bedrooms," Grissom decreed.

"Believe me, mister. The last place that you will find me is in a woman's bedroom. Much less, ones with young daughters. Unless we're discussing window treatments. Hey. And my indecent was for tricking too close to the boulevard. I don't know anything about killing women. That's straight boy stuff," Hunter pointed out, casually hinting to them his sexuality.

"Any recent trick offer you money for something a little weird? Say a portable sample of your DNA?" Catherine asked.

"Only about ten times this month. This is Vegas," Hunter scoffed.

"Would you be able to recognize any of these guys?" Grissom questioned.

"Well, I'd have to be looking at them in the face now, wouldn't I?" Hunter retorted before playfully 'biting' Grissom and leaving.

Catherine cleared her throat and remarked, "I guess we should have known if our guy was planting hairs, he was planting semen."

"Yeah. Probably in little hollowed-out packets of ketchup," Grissom added.

* * *

><p>"I didn't really find anything instructive. But Warrick hit pay dirt," Sara decreed as she and Warrick swung by Grissom's house.<p>

"Well, I went back to Audrey's apartment and I paid particular attention to the point of entry. I found a small persistence of white cotton fibres," Warrick recalled.

"Could have been the staging area. Maybe he wears his murder kit," Grissom pondered.

"Well, I remember what you said about signature guys and how they have low self-esteem. They're always going to the gym to work out. So I'm thinking gym towels," Warrick said.

"The frequented locations report said none of the women belong to a gym where he could have spotted them," Sara added.

"So…I went back to see if any of them had tried out introductory offers," Warrick went on.

"Which I do all the time. It's a free workout and you don't have to sign up," Sara piped in.

"All three women went to Strong's Gym once in the last three months and were allowed to use the day care for Langley, Austen and Amabel since they expressed interest in becoming members. So I'm going back there. Grab some towels, bring them back to the lab; see if I can get a match from the crime scene fibres," Warrick proclaimed.

"And, of course, get a list of the club's male gym members," Sara added onto Warrick's intentions.

"Call Brass. Tell him to meet you guys there. Let me know," Grissom instructed.

"Will do," Warrick nodded before he and Sara left and Grissom answered his ringing phone as he gave Kady her lunch, "Here you go, alligator. _Grissom._"

* * *

><p>It was Nick calling him in secret in the evidence vault.<p>

"Yeah. I'm looking in front of Eileen Snow's apartment. This security guard said he saw a guy burn rubber out of there the night of Eileen and Amabel's murder," Nick began.

"_I remember the guy._"

"Yeah, well, there's no rubber here. On the pavement or curb. A couple of oil spots. That's about it. And I called Brass. Nobody took any photographs of any tire marks. Not the Las Vegas PD. Not the Feds," Nick announced.

"_Little lie, big lie?_"

Nick hummed in agreement. He went to open his mouth to ask Grissom if he could talk to Kady. Behind him, Agent Culpepper walked into the evidence vault. Immediately, he assumed that he was talking to Grissom and decided that he had to end the conversation. Right now.

"The only shift CSI I can actually find. You're tampering with evidence of the United States Government there, Mr Stokes," Agent Culpepper declared.

"I was just looking for a quiet spot to call my daughter," Nick told him, "Single father. Bring her to the lab everyday. It's hard being separated from her."

OK. That wasn't a lie. He really did want to talk to Kady. More than anything in the entire world. But he didn't have time now. Not since the FBI just caught him out.

"Well, tell Kadelin she's gonna have you out of a job. Best thing you can do for your boss – protect him from himself," Agent Culpepper said.

"Grissom?" Nick asked innocently before turning back to his phone and ending the phone call, "_OK. Daddy's gotta run now, butterfly. Love you too, baby girl. Bye-bye._"

Grissom stared at his phone, his facial expression like…

What the fuck?

However, the new information inspired him. Grissom immediately began looking through the files looking for the name.

"What are we looking for, Uncle Gil?" Kady asked as she drank her apple juice.

"Goggle," Grissom answered.

"_If you need any help in your investigation, Mr Grissom…_"

"Syd Goggle," Grissom spoke the name aloud once more.

They did it. They finally found the Strip Strangler.

* * *

><p>He wasted no time. He tracked down Syd's apartment and left Kady with Mrs Innis before heading over there. When he knocked on the door, the door opened itself. It wasn't locked. Knowing that he could get in trouble for this, he let himself in. He came too far to catch this guy. He wasn't going to let this son of a bitch join his "One That Got Away" board.<p>

"Mr Goggle?" Grissom called.

He heard the sound of a washing machine clunking downstairs. Grissom was interested. If Syd Goggle was down there, he was destroying evidence from the murders he committed. He wasn't going to let this happen.

"Gil Grissom," Syd greeted as Grissom walked down.

"Syd Goggle," Grissom relied.

"I thought you were too busy with the FBI to talk to me," Syd remarked.

"These investigations are always in flux. Am I, uh, interrupting your laundry?" Grissom asked as he slid his flashlight into his pocket.

"I'm just doing some gym towels," Syd answered casually.

There was something else that caught Grissom's attention. The hair on Syd Goggle's head. Immediately, he knew it was a wig. He saw the barber's scissors and electric razors upstairs. Knowing he had been caught out, Syd removed his wig and tossed it to the concrete ground. This action only had confirmed Grissom's suspicions even more.

Syd Goggle is the Strip Strangler.

"You were so meticulous about so many things. Shaving. The gloves. Planted evidence. That's why I don't understand why you'd bring towels that eventually could be tracked," Grissom confessed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Syd shook his head.

"Strong's Gym. That's where the women with their young daughters told you to get lost, right? Stuffing towels down their throats make your point?" Grissom guessed.

"You know, the thing with women…is they work out because they want us to look at them. And then they…parade around. And you just want to…say hello," Syd said as he wringed a towel, "Everybody knows white cotton fibres aren't like fingerprints. They can't be traced. You don't get a…match on a towel."

"In theory. But the truth is every object is changed by its owner. By his habits. His…washing machine, for instance. His detergent," Grissom retorted as he glanced at the washing machine.

Syd smiled and began to walk towards Grissom, "The totality of microscopic elements. It's Locard's Theory."

As if it was cued, the washing machine began thumping and rattling. The towels were clamping up in the washing machine. Immediately, Grissom knew what this would mean if Syd continued killing.

"Your towel is caught in the agitator," Grissom observed, causing Syd to look at the machine, "Now, see, that's going to leave distinctive marks on the fabric, Syd. And that's just the beginning. I've had a look at your garbage."

"You were in my apartment. Now, nothing from there's admissible in court," Syd proclaimed, surprised, yet pleased.

"Your garbage is in a public area. Plain sight. It's enough for me to get a warrant," Grissom retorted.

That was when Syd knew for sure that he had been caught out. And he wasn't about to go down without a fight. He grabbed the nearest thing he could find: a wrench. Grissom held his arm up to block the blow to the head and got hit on the arm instead. Grissom went down, clutching his injured arm to his chest as the pain burnt through him. Syd changed weapons. When he traded his wrench for a short-handled shovel, he raised it high into the air. Thinking this was the end, Grissom began thinking about all the things he never did.

All the people he was going to miss.

_BANG!_

Syd's shirt began to turn red due to the blood that was staining it as he was shot multiplie times. He fell to the ground dead, the shovel falling from his grasp. Slowly, Grissom stood up and glanced at the top of the stairs. He saw Catherine standing there with her gun drawn. It didn't take long for him to realize that she had saved him.

"You alright?" Catherine asked as she stood beside him.

"Yeah," Grissom panted heavily, "How did you know I was here?"

"Nick told me after he got a call from Kady. She was worried. So naturally, he was worried," Catherine answered.

"Everybody OK?" Agent Culpepper asked as he walked down the stairs and took out his radio, "Special agents, we've got a shooting. Notify LVPD and paramedics ASAP."

"I just wanted to talk to him," Grissom sighed.

He was both happy and sad that Syd was dead. He was happy that many other women with daughters wouldn't end up like Eileen, Amabel, Tracey, Austen, Audrey and Langley. That they were finally avenged. But he was sad because he wanted to see the bastard sweat.

BEFORE he got what he deserved.

* * *

><p>In the Greasy Spoon All-Night Diner, the entire team celebrated the end of the Strip Strangler. There was a news conference playing in the background involving the Sheriff and Agent Culpepper. Naturally, the Feds take all the credit.<p>

"_We can say unequivocally, based on statements made by a certain local law enforcement employee and corresponding evidence, that the deceased, Syd Booth Goggle, is the Strip Strangler. Furthermore, since Goggle was killed by a second member of Las Vegas Law Enforcement during his apprehension, this case is now closed. I would like to thank the FBI, along with Special Agent Rick Culpepper, for his invaluable leadership in this pursuit. In short, we couldn't have done it without you._"

Kady rolled her eyes a little as Agent Culpepper walked onto the podium on the television. After doing that decoy operation with him, she has officially decided something.

The guy's a prick.

"_I'd like to thank you, Sheriff, as well as the Las Vegas Police. I'd also like to thank the citizens of Las Vegas for their courage. We at the Federal Bureau of Investigation are proud to have served you. Thank you._"

"Aw, that's cool. We don't need props. At the end of the day, we know what time it is," Warrick remarked.

"Give me some of that," Nick nodded in agreement as he kissed Kady's cheek.

"Do we have a breakfast budget, Grissom?" Sara asked.

"I believe Catherine was going to requisition one," Grissom answered.

"Good. 'Cause our plates are up and nobody has any money," Sara decreed as she stood up to get them.

"Right behind you," Warrick said as he stood up to help her.

"You, uh…you got me right, War?" Nick asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Picture that," Warrick scoffed, "I've got Kady, though."

Nick rolled his eyes a little and placed Kady in Catherine's lap before giving her butterfly and Eskimo kisses, causing Kady to giggle and kiss his cheek before he left to help Sara and Warrick.

"I never should have put you in that position, Catherine. I'm sorry," Grissom apologized.

"What position? Never doubt and never OK back. That's how I live my life," Catherine remarked.

"I admire that," Grissom complimented as everyone returned with the plates.

"Whole wheat and fruit? Who ordered that?" Sara asked.

"Here," Grissom said as Sara handed him his plate.

"How's this for service?" Nick asked as the plates were distributed.

"Very good," Catherine answered as she placed Kady in his lap when he sat down.

"Refried beans! Mmm!" Nick hummed appreciatively.

"Aww, come on, Kadelin! Why do you get the smiley face?" Warrick pouted.

"The waitresses like her," Nick answered as Kady held up a bit of her pancake and he ate it, "Thank you, butterfly."

They continued breakfast like that. They laugh. They smile. They share memories. They squabble.

They're family.

* * *

><p><strong>Now that is a nice end to the series. But it's not the end of the story. You guys wanted the extra chapter about Kady's first day of school. You got it!<strong>

**SEE YA NEXT CHAPTER!**


	25. First Day of School

**I'mma go cry in a corner. It's the last chapter! WAAAAAAAAAAAH!**

**I own nothing. Enjoy! *****cries in a corner*******

**WARNING! This will SUCK! WAAAAAAAAAAAH!**

* * *

><p>Nick woke up wishing it was any day but today. It was the end of August. Immediately, he knew what it meant.<p>

It's Kady's first day of school.

He had a hard time getting her to go to bed last night because she was so excited. She had heard from Lindsey how exciting her first day was and how it would be amazing for her. Since they were going to the same school, Lindsey immediately promised to look out for her, saying that if anyone gave her a hard time over anything – like being the daughter of a single father, for instance – that they would have to answer to her and her friends who absolutely adore the four-year-old.

Groaning, he decided to get up and get ready for one of the hardest days of his life. He grabbed the clothes he had laid out the night before and had a morning shower to wake himself up. Once he was dressed, he decided he needed to get his precious butterfly ready for the big day. On the way, he saw a photo of him and his wife, who would never see their baby's first day of school.

"Hey, butterfly," Nick whispered as he gently shook her awake, "You have to wake up now."

Kady moaned and scrunched her face when the sunlight hit her face from her partially-opened curtains. Nick found the sight adorable and made him love his daughter even more, if that was possible. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes as Nick scooped her in his arms.

"Come on," he grunted playfully as he walked towards the bathroom where a warm bath was waiting for her, "You have to get ready for your first day of school."

"School!" Kady squealed excitedly, now fully awake.

Nick chuckled at his daughter's excitement. He couldn't help it. It was adorable. She inherited that from her mother as well as her looks and intelligence. She was ready for her first day of school. But Nick felt as if he wasn't ready to let her go just yet. He wanted to keep her in the house forever. Maybe even home-school her himself. But he knew she wanted to experience the wonders of the world. See the world through her very own eyes. And who was he to keep that from her?

After spending some time splashing around and washing, Nick dried her off and dressed her. They then began to have their healthy breakfast when they heard a knock on the door. Wondering who it could be, Nick walked towards the door and opened it wide…to be greeted by Grissom, Greg, Catherine, Sara, Warrick and Brass with huge smiles on their faces.

"What are you guys doing here?" Nick asked with a smile of his own as he hugged them all and gave the girls a kiss on the cheek each.

"Hey. First day of school doesn't happen every day," Catherine remarked, "Take it from me."

"Hi, Uncle Nick!" Lindsey squealed as she hugged him.

"Hey, Lindsey," Nick greeted happily as he hugged her back.

"Where's Kady?" Lindsey asked.

"In the dining room," Nick answered as Lindsey ran inside excitedly.

"Probably should've called first. But we wanted to surprise you. Lindsey was talking about how she wanted to go to school with Kady since they're going to the same elementary school. It's all she could talk about yesterday. So…I thought we could carpool," Catherine explained.

"Yeah. That's no problem. We can even carpool into work together," Nick suggested.

"And I'll put you and Catherine together because Catherine has experienced this before. She can teach you a thing or two about handling your daughter's first day of school," Grissom said.

"I think I can handle it," Nick promised…although he was lying.

"Sure you can," Greg rolled his eyes as he walked in with everyone else following him, "And seriously. You only get to live through your very first day of elementary school once. You couldn't make pancakes?"

"I didn't want any," Kady defended.

"My sweet little Kadelin, I have so much to teach you," Greg sighed dramatically as he let her feed him some oatmeal, "Although, I've gotta give your daddy credit. He makes good oatmeal."

"Got that right," Warrick agreed as he helped himself to some leftover oatmeal in the pot.

"Help yourselves, why don't ya?" Nick suggested sarcastically before smiling at the sight of Lindsey, Kady and Greg sharing and noticing the time, "Alright, girls. We have to go soon. So why don't you finish getting ready?"

Kady and Lindsey nodded and ran towards the bathroom so they could brush their teeth. Nick sighed and sat in his chair at the dining table. Everyone else sat around him.

"You OK, man?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah. It's just that she's…," Nick trailed off.

"Growing up so fast?" Catherine offered as she took a sip of the coffee Nick had given her, "Nick, she's four years old. She's still going to come home to you at the end of the day. Kadelin's still got a while to go before she finds a guy, gets married and gives you a reason to be called Grandpa."

"Don't even go there," Nick pleaded.

"My point is…it's going to take more than growing up to separate the both of you. You two are inseparable. You are the closest father/daughter duo I have ever met," Catherine pointed out, "Remember when she was two years old and you went on your first stakeout in a long while? You asked me to babysit her. You kept on texting and calling to see if she was alright and so you could talk to her. Then the guys you were staking out caught onto you and held her hostage."

"I still have nightmares about it," Nick admitted.

"You threw away your only chance to get a conviction on the biggest drug dealers from the east coast just so you could rescue your daughter and bring her home. When you got reprimanded by the Sheriff and the DA for what you did, you told them to get stuffed because nothing was going to separate you from your baby girl," Catherine recalled with a smile, "You still got them. And Kady wasn't harmed. A little traumatised. But she was fine."

At that moment, Lindsey and Kady walked out excitedly hand-in-hand with their backpacks ready.

"You ready to go?" Nick guessed, earning eager nods from Kady and Lindsey, "Well…come on! Here we go!"

Nick let out a playful grunt as he picked Kady up and settled her into his hip, smiling as she wrapped her small arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. Everyone walked to their respective Tahoes and got ready to head to school. Kady and Lindsey sat together in the back while Nick and Catherine sat at the front. It was a silent drive for everyone…minus the occasional 'Are we there yet?' from Kady and Lindsey.

When they pulled out in front of the school, everyone got ready to say their goodbyes as the bell rings in five minutes.

"I'm gonna miss having you in the lab with me everyday," Greg remarked.

"I'll still come and visit, Uncle Greggy," Kady swore.

"That's my girl," Greg smiled as he hugged her, "Have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. And PLEASE don't blow anything up. Remember. I taught you nothing."

"Something you two wanna tell me?" Nick asked.

"Nope," Greg and Kady responded as they broke their hug and Kady sprinted to Sara.

"Don't worry about a thing, KT. You're going to do just fine here. You have Lindsey and all the friends you're going to make here," Sara reassured her, "There's nothing to be nervous about."

"I love you, SJ," Kady whispered as they hugged before she went to Warrick.

"The Cookie Monster's gonna miss his Elmo," Warrick pouted.

"I'll bring you cookies," Kady promised.

"That's my girl," Warrick smirked as they hugged.

"Hey! She's my girl!" Greg protested.

"She's my girl!" Nick corrected, causing both boys to go quiet. Nick was Kadelin's father. Technically, she's his girl.

"You will do well here, Kady. You are a smart little girl. But you have to remember this. We learn not in the school, but in life," Grissom recited.

"Seneca?" Kady guessed.

"Yes," Grissom nodded as they hugged, "Love you, alligator."

"Love you too, tadpole," Kady smiled as she ran into Catherine's arms.

"You are gonna do just fine, sunshine. You have Lindsey here all day looking out for you," Catherine promised.

"Anyone who messes with my sister's gonna get it," Lindsey decreed.

"You have nothing to be scared of. You don't have to worry about being ready to face the world. You were born ready. You should worry about the world being ready for you," Catherine smirked, "Now go say goodbye to your daddy. He's been anxious all day."

"Have not," Nick rolled his eyes as he knelt before her, "Butterfly, when you were born, I knew that this day was going to come. Every father knows this. I just wish that it didn't come so soon. But I also know that you're ready for this. You've always been ready for this."

"I'm nervous," Kady whispered.

"There's nothing to be nervous about. School is going to be one of the best times of your life. So much will happen. It's going to be a rollercoaster ride," Nick laughed as he held her close.

"Hide me!" someone squealed.

A young girl around Kady's age with black hair and green eyes hid behind Greg's leg, causing him to laugh.

"What are you hiding from?" Kady asked.

"Mummy's driving me mad," she whimpered, "My name's Emily."

"Kady," Kady introduced herself as they hugged.

"Wanna be best friends forever?" Emily asked.

"Duh!" Kady nodded eagerly as they hugged whilst giggling.

"She beat my record," Lindsey pouted, causing everyone to laugh.

"I'm Caitlin!" a girl with blonde hair and green eyes introduced herself.

"I'm Gizem!" a girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes piped in as the two girls ran up.

"Hiding from your parents too?" Greg guessed.

"Yes," both girls muttered before turning to Kady and Emily, "Wanna be best friends forever?"

"Duh!" Kady and Emily nodded together as the bell rang.

"Well, you four ladies better get to class," Nick remarked, "Don't wanna be late on your first day."

The four girls nodded and ran towards the preschool teacher that was waiting for them. Nick's heart felt heavy. School would be the longest time he would be apart from Kady. And this would happen five days a week…depending on public holidays, teachers strikes and if she gets sick. Suddenly, something happened. Kady told her three new friends to wait for her as she ran back. Knowing what she wanted, he smiled a watery smile and knelt down as Kady practically crashed into his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck as he wrapped his own around her. The children surrounding them awed at the sight, teachers smiled and parents watched with envy, wishing they had the same relationship with their children Nick and Kady share.

"Love you, daddy," Kady whispered.

"Love you too, butterfly," Nick murmured as he kissed her temple and gave her butterfly and Eskimo kisses.

When Kady ran back towards her classmates, Nick's heart was still heavy and a little lighter. He just had to remember…

At the end of the day, they'll be together again.


End file.
